November 13, 2013

Painting Goodbye to Autumn

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.

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!






12 comments:

  1. I wish I could paint, but no such luck - this is beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, Tina. :) You are creative in other ways!

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  2. Beautiful 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.

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    1. I have so many curly leaves in my studio right now, I might do a painting of them that way! They are still beautiful! :)

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  3. Beautiful 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!

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  4. Your 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 !!
    Big hugs to you & your exhausted assistant LOL
    xoxo Keep warm !

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    1. 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!

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  5. Such gorgeous autumn leaves you have painted. Beautiful work, Kathleen. Meeko is just adorable.

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    1. Thanks, Sherry! Those are nice words from someone who obviously loves 'Crimson Leaves'. ;)

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  6. Your 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 :)

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    1. Oooooo...I have to learn how to do that! I could see that being very interesting! :)

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Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to leave me a comment. I love reading them. -- Kathleen

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