Autumn Glory

Winter is a perfect season for hours of experiments with art. The days grow cold and dim, but not before the glorious splash of autumn that is such an inspiration!  Watching the sun illuminate the leaves of maple trees, I wanted to capture their colour, glow and delicacy, and to contrast it with the dark, solid trunks.

It’s been fun to further develop my love of layering and 3D art, as well as using mainly recycled elements. I’ve cut to size glass and clear acrylic from old picture frames found in op-shops and used recycled paper for the sculptured trunks and branches.

The picture is created in five transparent layers (see diagram below).  The trunks are made from moulded paper pulp, supported on cardboard armatures and painted with sealer and acrylic paints.  The leaves are painted with alcohol inks onto the glass and acrylic layers. The effect is finished with tiny cut and embossed paper vellum maple leaves on the lower branches and falling to the ground.

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The biggest challenge was the transparency, especially the glass backing.  The picture had to look (almost) as neat from the back as the front!  The transparency also created problems in gluing on the tiny leaves as even after trialing 5 types of glue, it can still be detected in certain light, so I had to work very carefully. The deep solid wooden frame, together with 2 layers of glass also make the picture heavier than average. It’s also very difficult to photograph art that is behind glass!

The picture looks particularly nice with some light behind it, but still quite effective on a white or light coloured wall. [Click the images below to see close up details]

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