Leaf Collector

I have loved leaves as long as I can remember. Although I admire them throughout the seasons, autumn leaves capture my heart.  Whenever I walk with Meeko, I bring a handful of leaves home. So over a few weeks, my collection grows and grows.

Sometimes you can find leaves that are already perfectly dried on the ground and they will retain their shape. If leaves are still humid, they will curl up when left to dry on their own. This year, I figured out that if I placed light twigs on the top of a small pile of leaves, they dried in a very nice natural way. Previously, I've tried drying them by weighing them down with books but then you end up with leaves that are as flat as pancakes and you lose their lovely contours and curves. When I was in elementary school, I can remember that we used to iron them between two pieces of wax paper. Supposedly, they will retain their colour longer than way but they are, of course, completely flat. I prefer having some contour and curls.

When I return from walks, I tend to put the leaves I've collected in our dining room as I like to look at them. After a few weeks, the side table starts to look a bit like a display in a nature museum. A few days ago, I collected all my dried leaves into a box and brought them up to my studio. I couldn't resist arranging them by type and colour.

Last year, I bought a clear glass vase for my painting table and I now display some of my leaf collection in it, refreshing the leaves each autumn.

And I guess it will not come as a surprise that I painted some leaves too! Last November, I painted two maples leaves and a maple key. I thought the painting was finished at the time but it didn't feel quite right and I put it in my painting drawer. 

This week, I added a curled leaf and maple key to the painting and the composition feels much better! I also added more colour and details to everything. The first photo below was taken yesterday. The second was taken at the end of the day today. I think it's finished now although I always take the time to stare at a painting for a while to know for sure.

The finished painting today

An excerpt from 'The Autumn' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,

And turn your eyes around,

Where waving woods and waters wild

Do hymn an autumn sound.

The summer sun is faint on them —

The summer flowers depart —

Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,

Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,

May yet be in your mind;

And how you heard the green woods sing

Beneath the freshening wind.

Though the same wind now blows around,

You would its blast recall;

For every breath that stirs the trees,

Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Perfect soundtrack: Nick Drake 'Five Leaves Left'

❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

A Love Note to December

December has arrived. Our snow came and went and is, as of today, back again. Yes!

Last week looked oddly like springtime. It felt so strange to lose the snow so quickly. I didn't take photos then.

Here are some of the wintry photos I've taken in the past week or so when we did have snow. The forest walk that Meeko and I take once a day and occasionally twice is restorative for me. About 35 to 40 minutes surrounded by nature is a joy. Meeko bounds and leaps and then waits for his less rapid companion who is usually off taking a photo somewhere. We both revel in the sights and sounds of the forest, each other's company as well as occasional encounters with fellow nature lovers, both two-footed and four-footed.

Airborne! 'Superdog' in his head and in my heart. :)

If you look at all of the frozen water, you get a sense of why we can't walk here for three seasons.

Wrap yourself up. It's getting cold.

Autumn and winter. Soul mates.

Love in the forest.

Gorgeous spiky frost on the marsh. It reminded me of a feather boa.

Touchdown after leaping over the log!

Frost-tipped echinacea in my garden. (The only photo not from the forest.)

My beautiful heart tree. When I was trying to find it again, I actually said
'Where is my heart' out loud and then 'There it is'.  My heart.

More leaf love.

Is there such a thing as too much leaf love. I don't think so.

We have lived in our house here for over fourteen years. I didn't know about this beautiful path, even though it is just at the foot of our street, until we had Meeko.  I owe thanks to my furry friend for so many things.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

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!

Garden Lullaby

This week, I gave myself a gift. I took a break from my work and spent a day and a half in the garden getting it ready for winter. I often say "I need my garden and my garden needs me". It is without a doubt a reciprocal relationship. Whatever I give, I receive back in beauty, a rested mind and restored spirit.

I was lucky that the weather was unseasonably mild. It was perfect for gardening. There have been plenty of years when I have done end-of-season work while freezing. There have also been years where I have been completely surprised by early snow and have had to leave the garden in its messy state until spring.

I removed annuals from pots and flower beds. I trimmed a few perennials although I leave most of them intact until spring to serve as bird food and winter interest. I moved a few perennials to better places and cleaned up the vegetable garden. I was happy to find a small patch of violas still in bloom in the center of the veggie patch.

I always have mixed emotions at this time of year. There is sadness that the growing season has come to a close. At the same time, I feel a sense of peace with the quiet state of the garden and a sense of hope at what the next year will bring.

Some of the trees and shrubs are completely bare. Others still have bits of color.

Yesterday's sunshine provided me with a late-season encounter with a garden friend. A little ladybug took a tour around my garden-gloved hand before taking off.

Throughout, I worked under the thoughtful gaze of my garden supervisor.

I am hoping that the good weather holds out a bit longer. I have a big order of spring bulbs on its way to me. Their shipment was delayed and I won't be able to plant them until next week.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that they arrive before temperatures plunge!

Leaves and The Sound of Music

When I was working on getting ready for my arts and crafts show, I had a moment of panic. I thought 'Oh no! I am going to miss all of the autumn leaves.'  Well, I didn't miss them all but there sure are a lot of them falling today. The wind is quite strong. It makes me a little sad to see the trees starting to look bare and the leaves all piled on the ground.

On Thursday, the weather kept changing. It was raining and then it wasn't. Back and forth. Meeko doesn't enjoy the rain so much any more. When he was a puppy, he didn't mind any kind of weather. So I waited for a gap in the rain to go for a walk with him. When I got out on our front steps, I had to run back in for my camera. The leaves on the front porch all had these gorgeous, big fat water droplets on them. It was a moment of magic.

As I was taking these photos, I found myself singing out loud. I was singing 'My Favorite Things' from the Sound of Music. Isn't that funny? (And what do the neighbors think, I wonder?)  Raindrops on leaves might not be raindrops on roses but, to me, they are just as beautiful.

That last photo is my favorite.

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I am celebrating an anniversary this weekend. Today is the 2nd anniversary of my shop opening on Etsy! It feels longer than that somehow. To show my thanks to all of my customers and supporters, I am offering 20% off today and tomorrow on anything in my shop (October 20th and 21st). Just use the coupon code 2THANKYOU at checkout.

❤ A big thank you to you all! ❤

Giving Thanks

Meeko was telling me that I haven't been focusing on him enough lately. True. I've been working very hard the past few weeks, both on a commissioned painting and preparations for an autumn arts and crafts show.  He has been getting less chin scratches and sofa cuddles from me. Our walks have sometimes been at a faster pace than usual (that part he doesn't really mind). Sometimes they have been later in the day than normal and he has had to work harder and harder to get my attention (sock stealing, sighing, stalking my every move, quiet but heart-wrenching crying beside me).

This is the Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. The weather is absolutely beautiful. It is a time for looking around us and giving thanks. My nephew and his girlfriend are visiting, so I was forced to stop working and pay attention to other things. I did some housecleaning this morning. As I was cleaning the kitchen table, I noticed that the chrysanthemums in the pots on the back porch weren't looking great. I went out and started deadheading them. It was methodical, soothing work and they look beautiful again. As I was looking after them, it hit me that I hadn't worked in the garden since early September. I realized that today was the first day in weeks that I haven't either been working on a painting, my Etsy shop or my show preparations. (You can see some of what I've been up to on my Instagram page.)

Meeko accompanied me outside and I gathered flowers and leaves from the garden and filled several vases. So now, autumn is outside and inside.

Our guests have arrived and Meeko is very happily entertaining them.

This weekend, I am giving thanks for being forced to slow down a little, for the beauty of nature, for my garden and its gifts, for family, friends and my sweet and patient furry boy.

Leaf collection

The winter weather continues here despite occasional teasing hints of spring. Meeko and I walk every day whether mild or very cold like today. (Thank you, Meeko.) I don't always remember to take my camera but I did have it with me on two walks in the past few weeks. I was so enchanted by the colour and the wonderful forms of the dried leaves that have managed to hang on despite this winter's snowstorms and high winds.

Who says winter is drab and colourless? I took more photos of other beautiful forest finds that I will share in the days ahead.

I've had several people comment on how I like to paint leaves. It's true. I do. Looking at all of these leaf photos made me think of the leaf paintings I've worked on in the past year. I did a little mosaic of with some of them. I'm actually working on another painting of leaves right now--tea leaves. It will be a little different. I'll let you see it when it's a little further along. :)

Despite the fact that I am smitten with the dried, papery leaves I've been seeing in the forest lately, I am so looking forward to those beautiful green ones that are only a couple of months away.  This time of year I start to ache for spring. ❤