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.
