A few weeks ago, I started a painting of two maple leaves and a key. When I went back to work on it yesterday, I found that the leaves had curled up in my absence. I don't blame them. Autumn naps are lovely.
Curly or not, they had still retained enough colour to use them as references. I put the final touches on my painting this morning.
I love painting leaves so much. They are like tiny quilts full of different colours and textures. I love the challenge of trying to replicate all of the hues, veins and crinkles.
I have tried a lot of different watercolour papers in the past couple of years. For this painting, I went back to a paper I used to use quite often: Saunders Waterford 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. I had forgotten how nice it was to work with.
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| A detail from my painting |
It is freezing cold here right now. Time for scarves, boots and gloves. I always hold out until the very last moment for hats. :) We have had snowflakes in the air but not on the ground so far. There's a small reprieve from the wintry weather ahead though. Temperatures are supposed to be quite mild over the weekend, so I have lucked out as far as weather for planting bulbs goes. Good thing too as I have over 300 of them to plant. We have to put our garden furniture away too.
Here are some photos from Instagram (a work-in-progress photo, a leaf collection from a walk and the finished painting):
I'll leave you with a photo of my studio assistant this morning. He'll have you know that inspiring someone as they paint autumn leaves is exhausting work!
I wish I could paint, but no such luck - this is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tina. :) You are creative in other ways!
DeleteBeautiful leaf painting. I had the same thing happen to me with my leaves curling up on me, I had brought my treasures home to paint then something more important cropped up, which needed my attention, It's called daily life !! Oh well I did take photos so I have the colours to fall back on, even if they are not exact.
ReplyDeleteI have so many curly leaves in my studio right now, I might do a painting of them that way! They are still beautiful! :)
DeleteBeautiful work! Funnily enough, I had a go at painting some Autumn leaves myself this week, but it just didn't work out at all! Seeing your work has inspired me to have another go!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Janet! Go do it! :)
DeleteYour leaves are so realistic, Kathleen, they capture autumn in all its glory ! Such intricate work for the veins, I couldn't possibly do such fine work ! Wonderful !!
ReplyDeleteBig hugs to you & your exhausted assistant LOL
xoxo Keep warm !
Thank you, Sonia, so much. Your comments mean a lot to me coming from a nature-lover like you! I will pass on a kiss from you to Meeko!
DeleteSuch gorgeous autumn leaves you have painted. Beautiful work, Kathleen. Meeko is just adorable.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherry! Those are nice words from someone who obviously loves 'Crimson Leaves'. ;)
DeleteYour leaves are beautiful, and the textures are fab, this would look so lovely as a repeat pattern on a cushion or something (notebook). I've been trying to do some surface pattern work (not getting too far) and can see patterns everywhere :)
ReplyDeleteOooooo...I have to learn how to do that! I could see that being very interesting! :)
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