Ivy source photo of my own, used to create the background layers.

3 layers of ivy are used here, with each layer being moved to different position and each layer changed in color (one more blue, one toward browns, other in greens) so that eraser tool can erase through to varying colors between leaves . All layers will be merged , and later hue/saturation changed to red/blues (More toward blues for good contrast.)

Birdhouse is lassoed with some green still around it, and it is moved onto the background canvas. It is scaled to long, narrow strip.

Here the birdhouse has been liquify warped into a tree and leaf shape.

Tree is over the ivy background, and a container is made from the birdhouse roof.

Brown 'soil' painted into the container with a brush tool, and plant (tree) is duplicated and scaled to slightly different size. It will be duplicated again later after leaves are detailed.

Here work is started on detailing the leaves and 'trunk' using smudge and eraser tools.

Doves are being duplicated, flipped horizontally, and sized to fit into the tree. Some smaller ones are out of focus, so they were used in back of tree. A version of the out of focus dove was made by brush over it to get better detail, also by adding a tail. Eyes and beaks of all doves were refined and all had to have shadow and highlight details gone over. Some also had little branches drawn under them, and some had claws added. In the background, gaussian and motion blurs were used until background was not discernable as ivy, so that tree and birds will be the focus.

Doves have all been placed, trying to create a good line of pattern through the canvas. Some are placed on front layer, but others are placed on two back layers to give a dimensional aspect. Berries are also started, using brush tool, dodge and burn tools.

All berry bunches are in place. some bunches are scaled a little larger for use at the bottom. Stems also have been added with brush tool. Some are also placed on 2nd and 3rd layers of the tree and leaves.

With tree and birds all finished, background is given a bluer look for better contrast. Resolution is also lowered to upload.