Step by Step, Part Three




As I like to say when the piece is done, "it's time for the big finish!" But, continuing from part one and part two of my "how to" - there are a few more things to do before we can call it "done". 



When I left you on Wednesday, I said that there were a few more trees to put down - a dark brown one and a couple of birch trees.  

I must confess, that even I second-guessed myself at the placement of that tree; but when I looked at my original layout it said that was the placement, so I decided to trust myself and went ahead. 


I used an orange-painted lutradur blend and made the leaves larger, more exaggerated, as this tree is in the foreground. 




The leaves aren't proportional to the tree, but it's okay because this is a small piece. On a larger piece,  like Hiraeth, I would take the time to make the leaves the right size. 

Interestingly, although these orange leaves are quite different than the yellow-blend used in the background, they ended up reading more similarly than I expected. 


And finally, the birch trees are laid in place.



At this point, I made a stylistic decision.

Although birch leaves look very much like the background and foreground leaves, (the difference being they're a bit fatter and that they have "notches"), because these leaves are so small, there was no way I would be able to notch them, anyway. In addition, birch leaves, in my experience, are usually yellow or orange in the fall; but there are already enough yellow / orange leaves in this piece.


So, red it is...



And I made a leaf shape that doesn't actually exist in nature. :)

Once again, I fused my red one-ply paper to a yellow fabric - and though I usually free cut my leaves, in  this case, I drew several, and then cut several from the paper in order to get a feel for cutting them first. Once I had a feel for this odd little shape, I cut a bunch from the red fabric and fused them down.


At this point, I really did think I was done, but the church seemed too white, too bright for a little country church, so I decided to knock back the white a bit with a couple of mixes of beige and grey. 

(Yes, I'm using the Canadian spelling of "grey". But I don't use the Canadian spelling of "fibre". I have no reason for this other than I'm quirky. lol)



There! THAT's better!


And here you have a little peek at all of the leaves... before the big finish!


Old Blesses New (c) 2013 Kit Lang

I called it "Old Blesses New" because I kept thinking about the old gods (the trees) embracing the new one. BSP says only an artist's mind would go there, but I think it may just be me. ;)

And that's the end of my tutorial!

I hope you enjoyed it, and that maybe even you found something you can use in it.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next week with something old and something new.


Kit 120

Kit Lang

6 comments:

  1. Love this and really enjoyed your process and how the choices were made!

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  2. A really fascinating insight into your work and the finished piece is beautiful.

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  3. Great choices. I love the "not from nature" leaves. They do add some nice texture and color.

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  4. I agree with above and I really liked the shape and texture of the not-from-nature leaves although I must say they did look mapley. Loved the fun of following you on this journey!

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  5. all i can say is WOW! this is gorgeous Kit and all the more interesting because you showed us your process. as always, i can't wait to see what you do next.

    have a great weekend!

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  6. Beautiful piece Kit and it was great watching it progress over the week.

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