Time For Resolutions

...They're watching me!...

Well, the holiday's over, so that means vacation's over! I have at least 40 cast leaves inside and outside, waiting to be painted. Every year I swear I'll have everything finished before the new leaves are ready to cast, but I always have a few left! So there are 3 leaves waiting for their final coating of sealer waiting for me right now in the studio (i.e., the laundry room), and I need to buckle down and paint at least one each day especially before March, which is when seed starting season begins! That is when I have to fit yet another purpose into the studio/laundry/cat's room! But that is hopefully when I will be able to transition some of my "leafin" work back outside! So my New Year's resolution is to get the paints out and continue with this commitment I began 4 years ago!

I "Heart" My Leaves!

Speaking of little things, I have also just developed a little

"trademark" - a small Morning Glory leaf pressed into the backs of my

castings. Isn't that sweet? A little heart shaped reminder that they are

made by hand. Actually, the truth is that I can't seem to eradicate all

of those damn weedy Morning Glory vines from my yard, so I thought I'd

at least find a use for part of them! All plants have a purpose,if one looks closely enough!

Almost A New Year

 And all in all, it's been great! A few new shows that went very well (a couple that did NOT, but that's the nature of the game), pretty good weather for almost all of them, and our new canopy worked out just like I wanted. Even works well at an indoor show! So things are as good as can be expected, considering our local (and national) economy is not well these days.

I am looking forward to the new year for another reason - I won't have to write "'09" in paint pen on rough cemennt anymore! Seriously, a zero and a nine are hard to write legibly! When 2010 arrives, a ONE and a zero will be much easier! O.K., so it doesn't sound like such a big deal, but it's the little things in life that are important, right?

 So goodbye to 2009, and i look forward to next year, and even MORE to the year after that (2011! Woo-hoo!)

Dumpster Diving - Fun For Everyone!

One of the few problems I have with my castings and traveling is what to use for packing/cushioning material. Most bubblewrap is too thin - it works, but only if I use several layers. Newspaper is great, but it looks sloppy, tears easily, and gets wet if I have to pack in rainy conditions. The best materials I have found so far are foam rubber (but that stuff is incredibly expensive) and heavy duty bubblewrap, which is hard to find AND expensive. As a result, I am always on the lookout for better packing material.

So, one day last week, as I was walking to the park for - I'm positive- the absolute last time this year, I was thrilled to find this pool cover by the street in front of one of my neighbors! It was pretty clean, and it is actually ...BUBBLE WRAP! Very thick, strong bubble wrap, too!

So I dragged it home, spead it out in my backyard, continued back to the park (where I did see a deer!), came back, swept a little dirt off the cover and proceeded to cut this thing into nice sized pieces for packing in the quickly fading light of dusk. I'm glad we have had a dry spell, I don't know if I would've messed with it in the rain, but now I have a LOT of packing material for just a little bit of labor. Sometimes checking out other folks' garbage is a fortuitous thing!

A Season Of Inspiration...

I'm sure that some of my friends and acquaintances can recall walking with me in the Autumn season, when I suddenly cry, "OOO!" and drop to the ground in mid sentence! No, it's not a heart attack - I just spotted a pretty leaf! There are so many colors and combination of colors on leaves this time of year that I have to collect them just to remember them all!

The Japanese Maple in my garden

Same tree...

Two leaves floating in the pond...

More out of my garden

Some fallen leaves I photographed so I can refer to the colors later

This is the back of a waterlily leaf - I paint some of the lily leaves I make with these colors - everyone probably thinks I make these colors up, but the backs of the leaves are usually quite beautiful!

Another Admirable Artist

This is my early Xmas gift to myself - a C.L. Whiting handbag! Now, normally MY handbags come from thrift stores and discount department stores, but when I saw the incredible work on these (called Leaf Leather), I had to own one!

Here's a little background on the artist.....

New York and Italy both play a part in the talent behind C.L Whiting, a person people nationwide respect as a Master Leathercrafter.

Many familiar with the art of leathercrafting say what C.L Whiting does "is impossible to do!"

But, when people realize this artist is not only accomplished in all forms of artwork, from watercolor to oils; as well as pastels, it makes more sense. And when it is understood that the work C.L. produces on leather is a combination of countless years of perfecting these forms of art, Leaf Leather's achievement becomes more understandable.

Leaf Leather's story began in upstate New York more than 20 years ago. This is where C.L. Whiting developed a love for nature and a passion for detail. While working part-time at a small leather shop and studying art at a New York university, the opportunity arose for C.L. Whiting to become an apprentice under an Italian engraver who was retiring and desired to pass along his technique for making fine detailed tools to someone who would appreciated it.

After years of study and countless hours of time, C.L. began to create a one of kind, unique process that no one in the world could imagine possible. By combining the artistic art forms learned in school, along with those specialized engraving skills gained through this apprenticeship, she discovered the ability to produce tools in the shape of leaves with uncanny microscopic detail.

C.L. withdrew from the university and began a decades-long development of more than 5,000 tools in different leaf patterns. Only after these tools were honed to her satisfaction did she realize the uniqueness of her new art form, and only then did the products you now see begin to be produced.

Leaf Rustling

No, not the rustling sound of leaves - the, uh, PROCURING of leaves from various sources. Yes, as I tell everyone, most of the leaves I use DO come from our garden, but I do also like unusual leaves from plants that I don't have room for in my yard, such as Oakleaf Hydrangea and the Kalopanax tree. Or Okra. Or grapevines. The grape leaves that I cast

are pretty popular with the wine aficionados around here, so I made my semi annual trip to the local botanical garden which is only a few minutes down the street from me, and stocked up on grape and various other leaves. Hey, what are they gonna do - arrest me for pruning? Of course, it was not just for that; it was one of the last (and only) warm autumn days left, and I walked around and took pictures and said goodbye to Summer.   

The swans were enjoying the day - the tiny swanlet we had seen in July had become almost as large as its parents (I guess a baby swan is a cygnet. I think I like "swanlet" better!), and the trees were showing a lot of color. Plus I got some exercise!

I call this "Under The Kalopanax Tree". Artsy, huh?