FALL LEAVES by Linda C. Miller

Clockwise

  Liriodendron tulipifera, Liquidambar styraciflua, Nyssa sylvatica and Cornus florida

I just love this time of year!  

Here are my new works painted in watercolor.  The leaves were traced but the dogwood or Cornus florida, was drawn from life.  I now tape my specimens to a white foam core board.  This helps with seeing the positive and negative shapes and with a little bit of tape you can create a pleasing composition too!

http://www.lindamillerbotanicalart.com
botanicalarttoday@yahoo.com

Spring Azaleas

 At long last we have warm weather in the lowcountry of South Carolina.  Just last week the azaleas popped.

I didn't have to go far to find a scene to paint.  This is right in our neighborhood near the golf course.


This spread is in my 'Book of Trees' - a Stillman and Birn Zeta Series journal.  Love this paper!

The challenge when painting plein air is remembering the lighting that first caught your eye.  Two and a half hours went by before I had a completed page to photograph.  Oh well, you get the idea....

Fall Leaves & Praying Mantis - Laura Gillis

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.... there is so much to be thankful for.

One thing I am thankful for is that I got a surprise day off so I had a little extra time this weekend. So, I got back to nature and did the praying mantis (one of my favorite insects) and some fall leaves.

Fall leaves from the park... a sweet gum and a burr oak. Ink & watercolor on Hemp paper in the nature journal.

A praying mantis for the Bug Book... ink & watercolor in the Moleskine watercolor journal

Sweet Gum - Laura Gillis

Hello all! It has been a while since I have posted anything here but I finally got something done that qualifies to be here! My latest project has been to do a daily sketch of my dogs or cat and post on my blog (yellowcatart.blogspot.com) but I gave them a break last night and sketched this leaf instead. I want to do this in color soon too.... it has the most beautiful green and maroon colors.... I just love fall. There are some years we go straight from summer to winter with only a few fall days in between but this year we have been lucky to have a longer fall and the leaves have been so pretty.

Pencil in generic sketchbook.

Autumn Leaves...sweet gum!

I hadn't had much time to journal lately, due to family pressures and gearing up for the new journal-keeping class I'm teaching online. But yesterday, those gorgeous leaves that had blown down in our near-gale-force winds spangled the neighborhood with bright, warm color. They really glowed, with the scudding blue-gray clouds!

People used to scrape the resin from the inner bark of Liquidambar and chew it like gum...hence, I suppose, the common name!

More about this fascinating, colorful tree HERE

And a lovely post from our own Laura Frankstone in this blog, HERE.

A bouquet of stars, July 22nd