ART question!!!

So I used to be rather accomplished in the arts of drawing and painting back in the day (high school). But I've since become busy and let it go. Now I'm trying to get my groove back and polish up on my skills, as my right brain self has gotten really lazy. SO enough of that. Here's my question - I am doing a sketch of a tree/landscape. I have the main tree sketched out, and I want it to be the main focal point of the sketch. What I don't know is how to add and fill in the background, without taking away from the main focal point.....any suggestions?

[Darkwing65]

The lines in your sketch need to appear to point to or emanate from your focal point.

[GhostDog]

I suggest going outside and looking at an actual tree, and seeing the kinds of things that are around it. I wouldn't think of it as filling in the background so much as describing where the tree is. You can say a lot with a few tiny details! It could be a tree in a pristine forest, or maybe there's some litter on the ground, or it looks like a natural forest but there's a tiny fence around the tree and some sort of historical marker sign like in a park... It could be in a forest, it could be a lone tree on a prairie, it could be an old tree in the middle of a city that's cracking the sidewalks with its roots, &etc.

I'd really just go outside and see what trees you find interesting and go from there. Nothing better for nature/landscape art than looking at the genuine article. =)