Branches

I've been wanting to create a wall piece using fall foliage for my space at Woolworth Art Gallery in downtown Asheville. Years ago, I developed a technique using image transfer paper and beautiful fall leaves. Long story short, I finally realized if you could transfer a flat photo using this paper, why not the vibrant fall (and flat) leaves. I was off and running and have done many fun things with this technique.

I put as many leaves as I can on a sheet of paper, photocopy them so I have a permanent file of and also make a copy of the leaves onto the transfer paper. The transfer paper with leaves is then ironed onto fabric and honestly....you can not tell the difference between the real leaf and the fabric. 

For this piece, I decided to use the leaf as fabric and cut out the same very simple shape (you will see it below).

I wanted an interesting background so I used artist's canvas (7oz. single weave) which is a little bit heavier than muslin and did a quick (4 mins) microwave dye with a very diluted dye solution. The fabric is scrunched up so it gets very mottled. Some mx dyes will split as this one did giving a beige and greenish color.

It needed something else so I cut out fern shapes, lay them on top of the fabric and sprayed with a diluted bleach solution. I have since created these fern shapes in plastic so they don't fall apart when wet.

Here is the finished piece for the background...I'm now ready to play with leaves....which reminds me of a wonderful memory of jumping in piles of leaves. I come from the north and always had glorious autumns and lots of falling leaves.

This is the second background piece all ready to go.

And here is the finished piece.....appropriately named Branches....already brought to Woolworth and already sold within a week...Now I'm back to a blank spot on the wall again....not complaining...just got to get busy again.
 Hope you're enjoying this glorious time of year...