Mother Nature always has such wonderful examples of creations that can inspire us. They are all around us all the time. One just has to “OBSERVE” and notice them. This gorgeous chartreuse colored geranium has the most amazing “hand-painted” looking leaves. Within the lighter chartreuse color in the center of each leaf is a darker color green that almost looks like someone came along with a paint brush and made these marks……..it just intrigued me. Each one seemed unique with the placement of the darker green color moving from the center of the leaf to the left or right of the center on some of the leaves. I photographed the geranium to use as reference material and then I sketched a leaf on drawing paper and inked it in.
Each leaf is different. Some of the centers have a more dark green pattern than others. Some have just a trace of the darker color and not always in the center. Mother Nature likes to mix it up a bit for us so we never get bored! I loved the leaf. The color is dreamy. The shape of the leaf is so sweet and perfect. I was in awe. I studied it and then decided to carve the image of the leaf that I drew into a rubber block so I could print them and create some new designs. Perhaps they would be for note cards or a little garden collection of tags. I wasn’t necessarily clear on the final outcome, I just thought that having the ability to print the leaves would give me some creative flexibility.
So I traced the drawing that I had sketched of the leaf onto some tracing paper and then rubbed the traced pencil image onto a rubber block. The imprint of the leaf comes right off on the rubber block, but I just darkened the image a bit with a pencil to make sure it was easy to see before I started to carve into the block. After I carved out the leaf image, I stamped it onto a green ink pad and then printed a bunch of leaves on the paper. I added a bit of marker to create the darker green hand-painted look of the actual leaf detail I described. I am not sure what my final design application of this leaf will be, but I wanted to show you an example of how something as small as just a single leaf can inspire us to create! Sometimes doing this sort of exercise will get the old creative juices flowing and one thing will lead to another idea and before you know it you are making note cards and stamping tags for gifts and creating your own wrapping paper…really the sky is the limit as to what you can come up with…so enjoy and let Mother Nature take you for a creative journey! She is always a wonderful travel companion!
