Look to the Horizon

We're in the midst of full-on fall here in Arizona and the leaves are indeed a-changing. Nothing quite so lovely as Vermont sugar maples here on the homestead (but I can get my fix by running up to the West Fork of Oak Creek in Sedona anytime I get myself moving...). The mulberry trees that provide deep shade in high summer are dropping a tremendous amount of yellow leaves that turn brown before they hit the ground.

So when the Diva asked all the tangly people to use leaves for inspiration, I steered clear of the front of the house (and the thoughts of having to do all that raking!) and slipped out the back door to the citrus trees, which are evergreen. I used some leaves to create a stencil for some Eric Carle tissue paper and drew the veins in with my trusted Sharpie. The circles are meant to mimic the concrete walkway between the trees...and perhaps I'll color in the pebbles sometime soon.

That was just plain fun!

Then I used the same papers for the EIM. The word is "horizon." From our house, we don't see where the land meets the sky quite as we're surrounded on the east and west by 7000 foot mountains (that's over 2100 meters and we're at only about 2000 ft/610 m). Our view looks similar to the inchie on the left I made with tissue and the magazine cut-out on the right. The little artwork in the middle is meant to look like the ocean when the fog rolls in and you can't discern sky from the water, a view I miss from back East.

The word at the TwobyTwo this week is "quill." Originally, the thought came from porcupines and their nasty barbs.

Along my way through art challenges and such, I have met three fine quillers in the blogosphere: Zoe, Kia and Annette (and you should check out their work! I'll wait! Their work does a much better job of describing their craft than my words ever will).

Perhaps, I thought, I'd try my hand at that paper art. Let's just say I'll keep trying!

While researching for the TwobyTwo, I learned about quillwork, where quills are used to create functional art. I came up with an idea to kind of combine the two art forms--using paper strips instead of those barbs, which are in short supply around here. I don't know what to quite call this. "How to take 250 square inches of paper and reduce it to 4" probably doesn't sound very appealing. But, that's pretty much what I did.

Sunset with Wrapped Paper

All the same, I'd do it again. At least, I gained some insight into paper economy.

Be sure to check out the various art blog challenges and if the mood suits you, try your hand at the myriad techniques and ideas. There's still time to submit to any of these, particularly the TwobyTwo!
Thanks for stopping by and have a brilliant day!