Sunday, September 4, 2011

How Sweet It Is ... SweetGum Leaf Art by GG

Autumn generates a sense of excitement for many artist. The bounteous combination of leaves turning from gold, to orange, to red and then to brown ... is like a palette of paints just waiting to be brushed on a canvas. 




Stanley Horowitz expressed it best, Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.


Adding these dried leaves, "especially Sweet Gum Leaves", to my work has been a favorite form of art for many years. Their colors inspire me ... they motivate me to create as I discover new ways to capture them before they have vanished under a blanket of snow.



As a child, I glued them to greeting cards or attempted to reproduce them in clay. Later as a digital designer, I photographed them and edited hundreds of layers and patterns while adding them to my marketing materials.

Now, I add them to my "functional art" coasters and trivets and seal them in 4-5 coats of resin. Prices range $40 as set of coaster or $25-$40 for larger trivet sizes.





They will remain the way they tumbled to the earth, for many years to come ... long after I'm gone. It's my small way of preserving nature and saying thanks to "Mother Nature" for allowing me to enjoy these small gifts ... as I make it through the journey of life.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.  ~ Albert Camus


Adding resin to my coasters and trivets is how I preserve nature as well as making my art a functional object.

2 comments:

Tobi said...

Beautiful, as always. Your description is as artistic as your autumn works are! I love that your coats of resin will not allow the leaves to lose their brilliancy!

Gayle Page-Robak said...

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have you stop by my blog for a visit. How are you, GG? I am loving your tile trivets...they are fabulous, so bright and beautiful. I make them but they are not as beautiful as those you have created. I love yours. Btw, I have just started a new 'sister' blog. I would love to have you stop over to it...I wanted to have a spot where I can put different types of artwork, i.e., handmade books, jewelry, clay and beeswax art, Box art, Garden things, home decor, etc., leaving my original blog more for my mixed media and digital art. The url is:
http://atastefultouch.blogspot.com
I have a lot of work to do on it but would love to share it with you. I invite you to join my followers list and grab a blog button. I am going to go now and see if you have one and make sure I am still on your list. Be well. Hugs, Gayle.