Admit it; if you have a Maple of any sort in your yard (or anywhere in your AREA) you have lots of these---little maple keys, seperated by the wind from the tree, spiraling downward to land with their little tails up and the seed portion ready to put a root into the ground.
Before the great weather blast the other day, in fact as it was coming in, I was out hurriedly gathering these out of the grass, one by one, watching the sky and hoping my *Bionic Hip* was made of some metal that did NOT attract electricity, especially since I was doubled over and *it* was pointed skyward......not a pretty visual. Sorry! ;-)
So why would I run out before an electrical storm to gather these?
Because when I picked one up, it got the creative juices flowing. Then I picked up another and compared shapes and veins. Different. And then another, and the whole color was slightly different. Then I thought of all the unique things they could be used for in mixed media......the lights were on and for once, somebody was home!
Thus, in an effort to reclaim some of my drawing skills, this was produced last evening:
It is an ATC, (standard size of 2.5"x 3.5") textured black card stock with Prismacolor Pencil and a bit of white gel pen for highlights. More or less a soothing meditation from a hectic day. I can see trying a couple more of these on different grounds, maybe keeping the colored pencil medium consistent through out; not sure yet.
But the point of this is simply to be aware of what you normally walk by, and don't hesitate to collect.
I am trying each day to look differently at things provided from nature and see what they could provide when placed within the art realm!
Pax.
