IF-FLYING through the Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are brilliant waves of red and gold and brown.

I ride them on a gentle breeze from town to town to town.

© Ginger Nielson

I posted this a bit early but it fits the theme so well I wanted to offer this for Illustration Friday. It is a rework of an older Black and White image with the addition of a short poem.

A little research

I needed do to some active research this morning for my current dummy. Because I want to represent leaves, ferns, berries and pond water I took a long walk with my camera and gathered a lot of good info. We have SUN today, so the time was just right in the early morning. Dew is still on the leaves, the grass is wet and the forest is fairly still.

To make the photos work for me I put them all into a separate folder within the current project file and make a little thumbnail photo like this one, so I can easily find what I am looking for.

My work is semi realistic in a painterly style, so these just serve as a reference. My paintings will be accurate, but not photo realistic. I am not sure how a PC handles this kind of file, but I like having the Mac that can show me at a glance where things are and which file I need for a reference as I draw or paint.

It is beginning...

We have been waiting for fall to finally arrive in COLOR. It has been here but just sat around doing not too much. Now, however, we are beginning to see the painted leaves in small batches here and there... and every once in a while something spectacular lands in the grass. Where these beauties come from I have no idea, since there isn't a tree like this near our house. But this visitor is most welcome.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ OPEN

11 x 17" printed on Brilliant Lustre stock
©Ginger Nielson 2007