Leaf art - blowing in the wind

I'm sharing my final submission to the leaf mail art swap on atcsforall.com I mentioned a few weeks ago. We were to create a realistic shaped leaf, and art it up however we wanted. They must be sturdy and should be 5-7 inches tall.  Mine are all 6 to 6-1/2 inches tall, and have a watercolor collage style background. 

The backs were to be somewhat decorative in case they were hung as a mobile. I used the water color collage on the backs too. :) 

Hoping the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. I'll share the leaf art that returns to me. 

Happy Friday! 

Autumn and other Leaves

I'm participating in a Leaf swap hosted by Nanner on atcsforall.com, and am having fun playing around with the watercolor layered backgrounds. These all use a base of watercolor wash, and then layers of stencil shapes also with watercolor.  Here's where I am with four of the leaves - these are all around 6-1/2 inches long and are 140# watercolor paper.

For the one green leaf with tree, I used a tree outline stencil and walnut ink spray. I kinda like it, but need to work it over a bit. I think a bird will end up in there somewhere. I'm debating how to edge all the leaves with color without making a mess and/or ruining it. :) 

This is a background using Twinkling H20's - which may also become a leaf, or perhaps it will be something else entirely. We'll see! 

Sharing with Paint Party Friday. 

Watercolor collage

Several weeks ago, Wendy at Stampadoodle did a demo on watercolor collage. I've been playing around with the technique since... and thought I'd share a couple of artist trading cards I've created. These use watercolors and stencils, with some sketching.  Mushrooms!

This one is in process - I need to add the sketch details. 

These all started from this master sheet, which I cut into the ATC backgrounds.