Fall Leaves Canvas

I had so many ideas for this project which required using the prompt - leaves. However, I realized that I had no Fall wall art and really wanted something to hang to reflect the colors of this season.

I began by die cutting the leaves with my Cuttlebug and Tim Holtz's leaves die.

I embossed some of them and then sprayed them all with a combination of Distressed Spray Stains and Dylusions Ink Sprays. I inked the edges with Distressed Inks and then sealed them with a fixative.

I painted the background of the canvas with blues and greens blending them from ground to sky.

Finding a twig outside,  I decided to afix it to the canvas with hot glue. Arranging the leaves on the 'branch', I was having a hard time limiting the number of leaves to just the ones shown (I wanted to add them ALL).

Anyone who knows me in art, knows that I am obsessed with borders, so I just had to cover the edges. 

I used black archival ink and a Tim Holtz stencil. If you look close, you'll see that I outlined each dot with a gold circle.

Next, I drew a pumpkin on a piece of computer paper and cut it apart.

I chose a few orange scrapbook papers and traced each of the pumpkin pieces on the papers and cut them out.

I assembled the scrapbook pumpkin pieces on the canvas. I outlined the completed pumpkin with Big Brush markers. I added a few more leaves and drew some swirly vines from the stem. I hand lettered a quote that I love about Autumn and... voila. 

I love Fall and I am so happy with the result of this canvas. 

Journal Play

Most know that I am not an avid journaler.  I worry about using supplies that I could otherwise put on a canvas. For a long time I just viewed it as wasteful.

Every now and then, I get the urge to try different techniques or different media and, truly, a journal page makes sense. 

Last night, I was trying blacks... to find out just how water soluble different pens and paints were. 

Needless to say... I just got to having fun and totally forgot my purpose... Maybe, just maybe, I discovered another purpose; to just have fun painting? The reason for a journal? Duh me!