Painted Leaf Prints

On weekday mornings I'm usually up before 6, making sure the girls are awake, emptying the dishwasher, getting various breakfast and lunch components together. On weekends I have the option of sleeping in a bit, or getting up at the same time and getting in some very valuable creative time while everyone else sleeps in (even the dog!). This morning, I did the latter, and started a new project that I hope to be working on in the next few days.

Of course, it's hard not to be inspired by the colors and shapes of the leaves this time of year. I never get tired of them, year after year. The last few days I've been picking up leaves of a particular size, but a variety of shapes, to make these prints on fabric. Someone from Cloth Paper Scissors magazine suggested using an old phone book for this type of painting and I have to say, whoever it was is a genius! I painted the leaves with paint (I used Pebeo Setacolor) with a foam brush...

and then pressed the leaf onto a nice homespun cloth. When the page in the phone book gets too messy, just turn to the next page and keep going!

I only used two colors of paint (buttercup yellow and oriental red), and mixed them together in various proportions to get a variety of shades of yellow, orange, and red. In the past I've always used cheap craft store acrylic paint that I've treated with a fabric medium. It always suited me fine, but now that I've used the Pebeo Setacolor paint, I'm hooked! The colors are so vibrant and deep and the texture is so smooth and creamy - just lovely to work with. And I love the results! I found myself just doing one more, and then one more after that! Now I can't wait to get to the next step in the project. Stay tuned!