Drawing From Nature

One day, about a year ago, I was walking out of a bank and came across this dried fallen leaf. It was curled up and mottled with yellows and burgundy. I thought it was so fascinating that it made me stop in my tracks and study it. It had become official. I was the crazy lady standing outside of the bank giddily staring and smiling at something that no one else could see. I decided to continue on my merry way to the car all the while still thinking of the colors and patterns in that little leaf. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should go grab it while I could. It may be kind of weird but that leaf was just so fascinating and I knew that I would never find another one quite like it. So I found a little box in my car and went back to collect my prize. I’ve since kept it in a little keepsake box with a few other random things I find in nature. While looking through that box I decided to draw my little leaf in graphite to study its various patterns. One day I plan to do another version of this in color to really show all of the subtle shifts in color but for now I’m really happy seeing it in black and white. I hope you like it too.

Materials Used: Graphite Pencils, 140lb 100% Cotton Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper, Kneaded eraser