After some encouragement from Renee I pulled myself together and took advantage of the extension to submit artwork until November 4th.

Keith Zoo wraps up well what Purrcasso is, shares his submission, and gives some links to other awesome artists who are contributing!

Here is a link to the Purrcasso site. It’s not too late to submit!

This is the piece I am submitting.

Our cat Buddy was the model and inspiration for the piece. He is always proud of himself for killing and offering us his toys.

Note: My image looks a bit washed out, that is due to my poor planning. I scanned the image in after it was behind glass.

They say the season you love best will be the one you are born in. I was born in the spring and always loved spring until I moved to New England. All right it helps that my husband is a huge pusher of fall but, the changing of the leaves is magnificent.

Every year I ogle over the lawns layered in what looks like a warm blanket-I-want-to-curled-up-in of leaves and the mighty colors from sun glow yellow to leathery brown. I take pictures, collect leaves, and press them and then I say, what will I do with these?

Currently I have a few folders on my computer and on my shelves of fall leaves. Only once have I actually used them in my art.

I think the ultimate limitation of the leaves being so fragile after they are pressed keeps me from working with them. Also, how many times have I picked up leaves then forgotten about them until they were brittle curled up shells? Too many.

This year living next to the woods, I have an ENDLESS supply of leaves right out my studio door. So, I decided to do some trials with different methods of glazing the leaves. I used three materials, Sculpey Glaze, ModPodge, and Parafin Wax.

The modpodge is my favorite cover. It goes nicely over the leaves allowing all of the color to come through once dry. It also creates a middle ground finish, not mat, but not glossy. Finally it is very forgiving of handling, the modpodge doesn’t lift from the leaf when the leaf is gently bent into a new shape. The fresher the leaf the better, however, I have noticed that leaves recover some of their previous flexibility and coated, as if they had just fallen from the tree.

The sculpey glaze is not great. It is meant to cover plastic, however, since I had some, I thought I would give it a try. It causes a very glossy finish which, I am not fond of and if you bend the leaves much at all, the glaze pulls off the leaf. It can work but, not for what I have in mind. And yes in this picture you can see I tested with adding glitter to the backs of the leaves. I was thinking they might look nice on a mobile. If a mobile was all I was making, the sculpey glaze would work just fine.

Then the Parafin wax. The wax does many of the same things as the modpodge, mat finish, flexibility to leaf, and it has no smell which, is a plus. However, it is hard to keep from having some areas that are white, due to a wax buildup. I think with more practice dipping, leaves could come out of the wax looking perfect. Also, while the wax is still warm you can pull some of the excess off and reshape. When bending the wax can detach from the leaf so there is limited mobility. The final good thing about the wax is that it is earth friendly.

Overall I am excited with my results and looking forward to seeing how the next step of my plan goes with the encased leaves. Of course, only time will tell whether the leaves can maintain their color. My guess is they will not, however, the leaves in my illustration above, from 2003, are only behind a layer of modpodge and they still have the same vibrancy.

One more picture to add to the curiosity of what I will be doing with all of my fall collected goodies.

Are these the most wonderful looking acorns you have seen or what?!

Another piece of Rue, this time her in her element. I took pictures of my process during each stage.

Update: Here is the sketch I did too:

Pencils

Gray Watercolor Shading

Final Watercolor layers

Photoshop darkening

I am probably going to go back and do this piece again. I am happy with the painting but, it isn’t everything I was hoping it would be.

Any thoughts? Leave me a comment if you have a suggestion.

SPOILER ALERT!!

If you have not yet read The Hunger Games and want to, do NOT read my post today. The image is part of the spoiler.

Okay, I may be sick today and I was trying to take the day off but, I have this image in my head that I had to put down on paper. It also worked into Illustration Friday – Beneath.

On Tuesday I finished up book one of The Hunger Games. It is an incredible story and not one I ever expected to find in a YA novel. The situation is disturbing, I honestly wasn’t sure I could read the book after getting to page 50. However, the characters were already entangling themselves in my heart and I had to know what happened to them.

I made it to part 2, The Games, while I sat in a coffee shop reading. The story unfolded beautifully. The writing was well put together, never over blowing the violent situations. Each incident was placed before the reader in a way that was able to be received without being a tearing blow. I was very impressed by this. However, the book does leave you sorrowful.

One scene in particular hurt so much I had to stop reading and take a walk around the cafe I was in to pull myself together. I could have wept but, I didn’t want to frighten the people that were sitting next to me. This was the scene where Rue dies. It was inevitable. The author, Suzanne Collins wrote this in perfectly. She let us just get to love Rue then she took her away as quickly as she gave her to us.

Of all the characters I loved Rue the most. She was such a beautiful character. I have another image I want to draw of her too. One that is more in her element but, for now I mourn Rue.

sorry for a lack of post thus far today. I finished book 1 of The Hunger Games and I need a day to digest it.

I have a couple of images in my head from the book I want to put down on paper too. I am working on those, but nothing is coming out right.

Until tomorrow.