Autumn Tree - A Mixed Media Journey

I am starting on a new mixed media landscape with leaves and grass pressed and varnished on to a wood box style canvas. A friend who liked some of my past works of grassy mixed media abstracts recently commissioned me to do a piece with a Autumn theme. So, I thought it would be a good idea to share the creative process of this project.

I began by searching for organic materials that would work for a landscape design. I collected leaves from my garden and grass from the park. I pressed a large cabbage leaf until dry and flat and trimmed the grass that had dried and seeded in to shapes and sizes that would work for the design I had in mind. I want to convey a breezy Autumn moment, with a swaying tree and swirling grass or leaves floating off the canvas and out of view, imparting a lot of movement. I arranged my found materials in to a pleasing composition and varnished them in to place with poly-urethane (it dries quickly). Next I started laying in color on top and around the grass and cabbage leaf, which is now a tree.

I will finish this piece over the next couple of days and post the last steps with a image of the finished painting on Friday.

Cheers,
Derek