Kickin’ Leaves

We went for a walk in Duxbury Woods with some friends and it was a magical place. The ancient woods didn’t disappoint with the bubbling River Yarrow, autumnal leaves and spectacular fungi. I love to go on autumn walks as the fallen leaves crunch under your feet and you can kick piles of them into the air. Even though there were leaves everywhere, I refrained from kicking them skywards as it’s a nature reserve. So my page today is inspired by our walk and my imagination of kicking leaves into the air.

I lightly drew the trees and horizons onto the page in pencil, then I masked the trees using masking tape and created paper masks for the foreground and sky areas so I could keep the horizon line well defined. Covering the foreground with the mask I started blending different blue inks to create the sky, painted the low autumn sun using acrylic paint and then blended out the yellow with pinks to create the sunbeams. Next I stamped an animal print using blue and silver inks and acrylic white paint to the sky area to give a mottled cloud effect. With the ink dry, I masked it off and started on the foreground creating and blending bands of colour using assorted ink pads and a sponge, starting with green and finishing with light purple to define the horizon. I removed the sky mask and the masking tape from the trees then used a stencil to add modelling paste to the tree trunks to mimic the fungi we saw. Once it had dried I used brown inks to colour them making sure I left the right hand side lighter as the sunshine would hit that side. The little girl and umbrella is hand drawn on multi-media paper and coloured using inks, they are stuck to the page using double-sided tape. To enhance the umbrella effect I shaded the middle with a brown ink and then added a double layer of foam tape at its centre so that the crown stood proud of the edges to make the right shape. The maple leaves are cut with a paper punch from a selection of papers from a Craft Asylum paper pad.  Having punched out the leaves I used the paper the leaves were cut out of as a stencil to add leaves over the foreground using different coloured inks. The punched leaves are stuck to the page mostly with matt gel medium, although I did use double-sided foam tape for some of them to give a 3D effect especially the ones the little girl is kicking in the air.  I outlined some of the leaves, trees and the little girl using a Uniball white gel pen and black Uni Pin marker in order to add detail as well as the highlights and shadows. I added a gem stone to the middle of the umbrella, then applied glossy accents to it and to the little girls red welly boots, which I then left to dry overnight. The glossy accents gives a clear 3D effect so they stand out. To finish I added a leaf on top of the umbrella and a robin which I had previously made and found in my craft stash, we saw some robins on our walk and I thought it would be nice for them to watch her having so much fun!

The walk ran alongside the River Yarrow, which attracts birds such as the dipper, grey wagtail and kingfisher. With improved water quality and new fish passes (fish friendly steps around weirs) being introduced, Salmon have been recorded at Duxbury for the first time in over 100 years.

There are benches along the way so we sat listening to the water cascading over the rocks making a magical sound!

These magnificent roots were reaching down the bank towards the river below.

There were so many different fungi to see on the ground and trees – aren’t they stunning!

There were also plenty of tree stumps and logs for fungi to grow on – I think fairies must live in these little white dainty ones.

The views across the woodland were spectacular; the trees were so tall with splashes of green and autumnal oranges and golds.

So when we got home, it called for a hot drink and some homemade parkin – yum! And like the wood, my parkin recipe has also stood the test of time and has been passed down through generations of my family. As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m delighted to say a big hello to the T Gang and wishing everyone a Happy T day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• Colvin & Co acrylic paint (Titanium White)
• Hobbycraft (Assorted Ink Pads)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Hobbycraft A6 clear stamp (Animal Prints Background)
• The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs stencil (Texturized 12×12 Template)
• Creative Rox Craft Asylum Paper Pad (Into the woods 480326)
• Leaf Punch
• Hobbycraft Self Adhesive Gems (Assorted Square 5666141000)
• Winsor & Newton Matt Gel
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• The Range double-sided foam tape