When leaves begin to collect on the ground, some of them are so pretty, it seems a shame not to put them to use. While this very easy activity is for the those who may be new to the medium of watercolor, anyone would enjoy doing it. The results are a dynamic and fall-like painting.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 2:
Preparing the Leaves
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Obtain a five leaves of various sizes and shapes. For those in climates without deciduous trees that drop their leaves in fall, purchase craft store leaves. Other sources are leaf window clings, leaves for table settings and home decoration, and cut-outs from the dollar store.
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Gather other supplies. You will also need a roll of plastic self-stick shelf paper, pattern or color are of no importance. Add, scissors, a Sharpie or other black fine line marker, a pencil, a box of watercolors and a flat, ½ inch watercolor or all purpose paint brush. Buy a pad of 11x14 inch watercolor paper. Remove a sheet and plan to work on it on a surface covered with plastic or newspapers. Set the paper aside. Also, provide a water container for each person.Advertisement
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Unroll 10−12 inches (−30 cm) of contact paper. Turn it to the back side, pattern and plastic side not visible. On the paper backing place a leaf. Trace around the leaf with pencil or dark fine pointed marker. Set the real leaf aside. Pick another leaf and repeat the process until you have drawn five or six leaves. You can repeat a favorite more than once. Try to have at least three be big ones with lots of points.
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Using scissors, carefully cut the leaves out. Set the cut-out of a leaf aside and repeat with the others.Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 2:
Placing and Painting
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Place the shelf paper leaves on a piece of watercolor paper with backing still on to get a pleasing arrangement. Pull the backing from a leaf and stick it down on the paper. Repeat until you have adhered all the leaves to the paper. Run your fingers over each leaf to remove bubbles to get it as flat and secure as possible.
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2Wet the pads of paint in your watercolor box. Allow the water to soak in for a few minutes. Alternatively, squeezing out tube colors onto a white plastic or china plate and diluting them will give you a lot of intense color quicker. Mix a puddle of any color you wish, enough to make a stroke around the entire paper. Repeat with other colors trying to keep them from overlapping.
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Paint right over the leaves making your strokes bold. Think of a pattern, such as a circle and work your brush in your chosen pattern. Just keep working on the white areas of paper. Continue with other colors until the entire paper is painted. If you paint a new color next to a wet color, the two will mingle and form a new color. Cover the entire sheet of paper. Try not to overwork it. Let it dry.
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Spatter if you wish. Load a big brush and tap it against another brush handle.
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Gently remove the leaf shapes from your paper. Draw veins on white leaves using an actual leaf as a model. Paint each leaf. Try to choose colors that will show up against the background. Repeat with all leaves. Allow to dry.
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Use a Sharpie to outline the leaves, if you wish. The black line will help to further define the leaves and pop them out from the background. Draw each leaf’s veins. If desired, switch media and use colored pencils or watercolor pencils to color the leaves.
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Enjoy your work! This project will give importance to what many will overlook, fallen leaves. Drawing veins by using the backs of the actual leaves as a guide will teach you a lot about how the veins are arranged. Either hang it as a painting or sandwich between two sheets of clear contact paper to use as place mats.Advertisement
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Tips
- Removing the backing from the leaves is easy if you find a corner or point of a leaf and as roughly as you can rub it between two fingers. From this small place, you can carefully peel off the backing and dispose of it.Thanks
- The leaf shapes will have enough sticky backing to use them again, if you wish to make another picture. Just tip and turn the leaves and arrange them differently from the first time.Thanks
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