Sketching Fall Leaves in Watercolor!

Fall has arrived and the colors are reaching their peak in my neighborhood.  I gather up brilliant leaves on every walk.  

Here are yesterday's leaves.

I picked out three sassafras leaves that drew my eye, and made pencil sketches of each, then laid in a wash of azo yellow and let it dry. This technique, called glazing, creates glowing, rich colors when you paint other layers of color over top.  

After the yellow wash dried, I drew in the leaf veins with a white wax crayon to create a resist and keep the veins yellow.  I brushed in layers of oranges made from azo yellow mixed with either alizarin crimson or pyrrol red.  I added table salt to some of the wet washes and let it all dry.

After the salt completely dried, I brushed it off and added some final marks.  The salt didn't have a big effect on the washes.  I think the paint had begun to dry and wasn't at its best point for this trick.

I love adding the little spots where a bug chewed the leaf, etc.  These create a more realistic appearance.

Autumn leaves are a wonderful subject to draw and paint -- they're small, beautiful and endlessly fascinating. And it's such a human habit to gather natural treasures, especially in the fall harvest season. A walk in nature with some creative time is a lovely way to slow down and practice self care.

I hope you take some time to create with fall leaves!

Happy Creating!