Fall Leaves

Fall is by far, my absolutely favorite time of year. Just the other day, I was wandering around our yard with my children and we were admiring the fallen leaves on the ground. I was picking up my favorites to show all the different color examples to my 3 year old, and then I had a "Eureka" moment. "Why don't I photocopy these so we can make some art with them?" 

I began by using a glue stick on the back of all the leaves, and then gluing them down to white cardstock. This would help the leaves lie flat when I took them over to my printer to copy.

Then I sprayed a piece of white yardstick with Dina Wakley Acrylic sprays in Olive and Syrup. I allowed to dry. 

I then stenciled with the StencilClub stencil designed by June Pfaff Daley. I chose this one because it had swirly organic images that reminded me of wood. I stenciled with Dina Wakely Acrylic paint in Cheddar, Medieval, and White Gesso on the page to get some patterns. I used the white gesso to tone down the brighter colors. 

Using the StencilGirl© Remember Girl stencil by Pam Carriker, I stenciled the face on to my sprayed cardstock. I tore out the face and glued it down to my page. I also cut out my flowers and glued those down around my focal image. 

I then doodled and added some depth with gel crayons. I finally stapled a quoted tag from the Ricki Ticki Tavi line. I love having pages in my journal that tell me about what time it was while I was creating. It is my way to create a timeline on the page. This page will remind me of the time I spent collecting the Autumn leaves with my children.

Megan Whisner Quinlan is a mixed media artist who has been working in art journals and handmade books for over 20 years. Stencils are her favorite tool and she truly believes it is the one art supply (next to paint and paper) a person needs to create almost anything! If you feel inspired to create from this project, please tag her as she loves to see what you make. You can find Megan on social media on Instagram: Megan _Whisner_Quinlan and on Youtube: Megan Whisner Quinlan