Gift #1167: Foliage

There will be a brief interruption in the British Travelogue as we pause for a moment to admire the beauties of foliage, courtesy of the Art Elements Blog challenge theme for September.

fo·li·age:  the aggregate of leaves of one or more plants; cluster of leaves, flowers, and branches; a representation of leaves, flowers, and branches for architectural ornamentation

Naturally, I had to participate in this month’s challenge as the subject matter is one of my favorites – leaves!  And on the cusp of autumn, most of my creations turn toward my favorite time of year when the leaves shed their greens for ochre, ruby, auburn, and burgundy.

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”
-Emily Bronte

This necklace was made with a carved stone leaf and strung with jasper rounds and tiny brass leaves.  I found the pendant at a lovely bead shop that used to be in Nashville, IN, which was one of my favorite places to visit in the fall.

 

This next set was inspired by the polymer clay toggle made by Humblebeads.  It’s of a birch forest in autumn – with ochre leaves and deep blue berries.  I transformed the toggle into a pendant and strung matching glass beads and tiny navy seed beads.  To break up the strung beads, I added a birch bead on one side and a tiny navy bird perched on a branch to the other.  The earrings are birch polymer clay bead and brass leaves.  All polyclay beads are by Humblebeads.

“The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.”
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Red maple leaves take the spotlight in this next set.  The polyclay stick pendant is by Tesori Treasures and I have several of these with different leaves imprinted on them.  To give more weight to the pendant, I layered it with a large brass skeleton leaf.  The body of the necklace is strung with a variety of glass beads in shades of red, orange, brown, and light blue, with a scattering of red maple Czech beads.  For the earrings I layered Czech maple leaves with tiny skeleton leaves and added poly clay rounds by Humblebeads and Czech glass beads.

“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.”
– John Burroughs

 

This is my favorite of the jewelry I’m sharing today.  To make the necklace and earrings, I painted brass leaves with a variety of yellow, brown, and green acrylics.  I wanted them to look like withered, aged autumnal leaves that were just about to fade into brown.  I paired the leaves with a variety of matching Czech glass beads.  I dangled a little squirrel from the leaves of the necklace because what fun is an autumn forest without frolicking squirrels?

These last two necklaces were last minute additions after a trip to Hobby Lobby.  The leaves are from the Vintaj “Artisan market” collection and I loved the style and how quickly they worked up into finished pieces.

I also have some stamped cards and mixed media projects to share too.

“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”
― Lee Maynard

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither

This set of cards was made with Basic Grey’s “Indian Summer” papers.  These are among my very favorite designer papers and I love working with the beautiful colors and organic leafy patterns.  The stamps are from Inkadinkado – this graphic leaf set lends itself well to whimsical designs and is perfect for celebrating autumn.

My last project is canvas art that I made this afternoon for a Fall/Halloween swap I’m participating in.  My recipient loves leaves and crows, so I assembled this piece using stamps, inks, and lots of die cuts!  I cut the leaves out of watercolor paper and then colored them with a variety of distress inks.  I hope she will enjoy receiving it as much as I enjoyed making it.

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
-George Eliot

Blessings to you,

Sarah

this is a blog hop, so if you’re interested in seeing more “foliage” art, please visit the other participants

AE Team

 

Lesley  

Susan 

Marsha  

Claire  

Cathy 

Jenny  

Niky  

Caroline

 

Guests

 

Dawn  

Hope  

Alison  

Beth & Evie  

Laurie  

Kathy  

Linda 

Sarajo  

Michelle 

Tammy  

Divya  

Karen  

Alysen  

Mary  

Cat  

Jill

Sarah

Anita