Watch the Falling Leaves

Watch Them Fall 7"x10" water color on paper

There's something about certain subjects that makes me want to paint them with water colors. I first noticed it with Winslow Homer's water colors of the Bahamian surf. They just looked so right in that medium. Colorful fall leaves are another. I love dropping bits of color onto the wet paper to make the mottled colors of the fallen leaves. So if you see me on the side of the road, bent over looking through the leaves to choose my favorites, you'll know what I'm going to do with them.

Falling Leaves 7"x10" water color on paper

There's a difference in the process of painting with oils and with water colors. With oil paint, we start by painting in the darkest colors and work to the lightest. With water color most painters start with the lightest colors and work their way to the darkest. That's how I painted the leaves on these paintings. The background was added as the last step. And to draw the leaves, I laid them down on the paper and traced them.

Three Leaves 7"x10" water color on paper

The two paintings at the top were painted in the last week or so. The painting above was painted a couple of years ago in Florida. I especially like the beach plum leaves (on the left), they're green in the summer and red and orange  and very mottled in the fall, fabulous to paint.

Below are a couple of videos showing the process.

Here I'm working on the yellow leaf, giving it some color variety and putting in the midrib and veins.

To add the blue sky behind the leaves I prepared the blue paint which is dry in the pans (at the top) by wetting it and putting it on the palette. Then I wet the white part of the paper, so that I could drop in the blue paint. I didn't go quite to the edge of the leaves, that can be done when adding the blue paint.