Surreal Tree Paintings created by Ellen Lustig, is a series of oil paintings that have human-like features. When I was a kid, I remember staring at patterns on a stucco wall at my family's home, and that's when I first started seeing imaginary faces as well as body forms in inanimate objects. In this series, I looked into the notion of seeing trees as human figures.

I often think of trees as looking like humans when I see them. In the collection of surreal tree paintings, the first painting titled "Carmen Miranda" shows a curvy woman raising her arm to grab a hat like the well-known actress would. When I saw a London Plane Tree in Italy, I immediately thought of the famous actress Carmen Miranda, and recognize her trademark motions.

How many of us pay close attention to the trees while being surrounded by them all the time? After seeing my surreal tree paintings, many people have told me that they now see trees in a new way and also describe them as "Ellen Trees". My paintings appear to depict an intense inner emotional life that is part human and half arboreal. The colors in the paintings are intensified to depict intricate patterns in the bark. In my opinion, trees have personalities and can exhibit a variety of anthropomorphic gestures as a result. After viewing my art, viewers often get a new regard for trees.

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