Fall leaves

This is my favorite time of year---when the leaves are just beginning to turn, but the sun is still bright and warm on the corn stalks. The fields are full of geese resting up for the long flight; wild turkeys forage in the thickets. Squirrels are building up their stocks of winter food. At dusk the deer stride down out of the forest and chaw at the sweet grass. Yesterday we even spotted a bright young fox enjoying the dappled shade under some creekside willows. These colors are magnificent. So many greens and yellows, with reds and browns and oranges just starting to seep in. Golden birch leaves blow across the paths, just wonderful.

I sit at my desk in my cramped little apartment and try to think of ways to capture some of this. We go for walks often enough; I'm always picking things up and asking my fiance what this leaf is or how to identify that flower. I was looking at these bits and pieces and remembered my old ceramics teacher from junior high and a technique she'd taught me. I didn't have any clay, but I did have some sculpey.

And, what do you know? It worked.

Texture is only half the charm, though. Color, must have color! Glorious color! It's been a while since I painted last... a long while. But I have paints, acrylic paints. And glaze, too. The prototype turned out rather pleasing.

Some colorful stone chips, some wooden beads, and some copper stringing wire later...

Not bad, eh? What do you think?

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