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 Rocky Heart

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love hearts. I love to paint them, I own heart-shaped jewelry, I love to see heart shapes in other things. I also really love rocks. The heart rock collection above was gathered on our holiday this past August in Maine. I actually have more of them than I was able to fit in the photo.

I can't tell you how much pleasure looking at these gorgeous heart rocks gives me. I love that there are smooth ones, wonky ones, broken ones, light and dark. Don't all of our hearts go through all of those stages at some time or another?

Some of these rocks are particularly nice to hold. The great big, smooth rock in the centre came from Jasper Beach in Maine. It is the most extraordinary place. Mounds and mounds of ocean-sculpted, smooth jasper stones. That big heart is so beautiful and just might be the ultimate worry stone.

In April, I showed you a painting I did of a gorgeous tree that lives in the forest where I walk with Meeko during the winter. It has the most wonderful heart shape on its trunk.  I finally made my painting into a print and added it to my shop this week. I am very happy with how it turned out. I did the original painting in gouache as I wanted to make sure that all of the woodsy, earthy, mossy tones came through on the beautiful tree trunk.  The print has captured the original's tones very nicely.

"Legend has it she gave her heart to the forest."  8 1/2 x 11 inch print on Italian watercolour paper

I also found some beautiful egg-shaped rocks. I'm like a kid when I'm on the beach. I get so excited about shells, sea glass and all shapes of rocks. Look at these beauties!

I wonder if Arounna from Bookhou ever wonders about the treasures that her beautifully made bags carry. My wonderful rock collection was transported in a Bookhou bag from the coast of Maine back to our home.

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Thank you for your patience with me in past weeks. I came back from our holiday in early August fired up and with the best intentions of posting on my blog more often. Well and then I didn't. (Did you wonder if our house had been surrounded by the black-eyed susans in my last post?) I've missed you all and hope to be here more often this fall.  Both Emma and Chloé are now back to school. After a very slow summer, I've started to sell again in my shop. (Yay!) I've added new prints and some more originals, so please have a look. I'll be adding more in the weeks ahead. The next month will be busy. I have a special commissioned painting to work on (maybe two) as well as a craft show to prepare for. I'll see you here!

A Mermaid's Tale

We have just come back from a glorious week beside the ocean in Maine. Two days at home and my head is still back in Maine with the mermaids, sea birds and beach glass.

Mermaids, you ask? Well, the only one I was able to get a photo of was a beautiful sand sculpture made by Emma and her cousin, Erica. But I think there's a possibility that there were other mermaids lingering behind the rocks just beyond my camera's reach.

Emma and Erica's beautifully sculpted mermaid complete with seaweed hair.

We rented a house with my sister's family. We spent many hours walking on the rocky beach in front of where we stayed. Each tide would bring in more sea glass, enough to share with everyone who was there.

My collection of sea glass and pottery. The most amazing find was the glass stopper pictured on the right.

It turns out that Emma has an eagle eye for finding sea glass. Even after the rest of us had combed the beach thinking we had found it all, Emma would find pocketsful of sea glass treasures.

And speaking of eagles, we saw one!  A bald eagle flew by on more than one occasion. Once, it flew within feet of the front porch. I don't have a photo of it that time. We just stood there awestruck. Here's a photo of it a little higher up in the sky on one of its fly-bys.

We also saw loons, herons and seagulls. I took a series of photos of one heron looking for and catching his supper.

I've started a painting of some of my beautiful beach finds. It's a way of me staying in touch with our beautiful Maine vacation while I slowly get used to being back home.

This painting is still in progress. A few more details to go.

Uh oh. It's happening again. There go my thoughts, somewhere back in Maine with the mermaids, beach glass and sea birds.