Elisabeth Hudgins - Leaf Impressions Series

Elisabeth Hudgins's contribution to this month's selections on painting in a series-

Leaves are part of my artistic vocabulary. To me they embody so much meaning: renewal, life cycles, being part of the elements of the earth. I often revisit this series, whenever I see exciting leaves or leaf shapes and patterns. I start by collecting the leaves. Then, I use the process of monoprinting with the leaves. In this process, I am actually applying paint on the leaf, and laying the leaf on the paper. Sometimes, I will use a watercolor technique and work "wet into wet", and other times I will use a collage technique. The hardest part is for waiting for the painting to dry, so I can pull up the leaves off the paper and see what happened. This is the unknown element that I find very exciting…. and creates the mystery and surprise of not quite knowing what the outcome will be. 

Hemlock by Elisabeth Hudgins

The mediums I use: watercolor and collage, each allow a kind of transparency. After many years of working solely with the leaf shapes and patterns, I began to add layers of figure drawings to my leaf impressions. They appear almost as double exposures. Two unique images melded into one work. 

Fern3 by Elisabeth Hudgins

To see a slide show of my process for making my Leaf Impressions visit: http://www.elisabethhudgins.com/1/archives/09-2013/1.html

Fall I by Elisabeth Hudgins

And to see more of my Leaf Impression Series visit: http://www.elisabethhudgins.com/leaf-and-tree-gallery.html

Spring by Elisabeth  Hudgins

Changing weather produces changes in art - featured artist Elisabeth Hudgins

"Fall Six" by Elisabeth Hudgins

Each fall, my art making does change! I go back to my "first love" medium....watercolor. My schedule does not change much, but what I am inspired by does....

When fall sets in and the nights are cooler, the leaves start changing color and they become my inspiration. As they fall to the ground, I really start looking at them closely. I gather them up and set about making my "Leaf Impressions", actually making watercolor monoprints on paper with the leaves. . My Leaf Impression Paintings are all about the leaves...In this process, I am actually applying paint on the leaf, and laying the leaf on the paper. Sometimes, I will use a watercolor technique and work "wet into wet", and other times I will use a collage technique. The hardest part is for waiting for the painting to dry, so I can pull up the leaves off the paper and see what happened! But I love that elemnt of surprise. Then I will go back and overpaint, enhancing what I want to emphasize in the painting. To see a slide show of my process, please visit: http://www.elisabethhudgins.com/artlifeblog.html 

Several of my Leaf Impression paintings are in the Gallery Underground during the month of October... One, "Sycamore" features the largest sycamore leaf I have ever seen... a good 12"

"Sycamore" by Elisabeth Hudgins