My hubby goes to Dallas for a week every month for his job.
The last time he was there I made him pick some magnolia leaves for me and bring them home (love that guy!).
I just HAD to paint some after seeing these gorgeous leaves (on Pinterest of course — I seriously need some intervention) and I remembered, from when we lived there, how big and beautiful those magnolia leaves are.
These leaves are about 2 weeks old and I am waiting to see how they dry with paint on them. I was thinking I might try applying cold or hot wax to one or two to see what happens. I also thought it would be great to marbleize and/or paint them with the kids! They would really get a kick out of that! I have lots more leaves to play with, some are currently pressed in heavy book pages.
Anyone have any experience with this they’d like to share? I’d love to hear about it!
I cant believe that you would do all this absolutely gorgeous art work on something that might turn out to be impermanent Regina. At least you will have the photos tho. These paintings are really beautiful esp the girl with the blue hair! I LOVE your art. And I LOVE your blog!
Thanks Angella, you are always so kind! You should see my work table– I draw and paint on it all the time, then just wipe it clean. My oldest son gets so upset when I clean it 🙂
These are fabulous, but I can’t help feeling that they may dry out and crumble. You could try drying the leaves first, or put the stems into a 50/50 mix of glycerine and water, so that they go leathery rather than dry.
You cannot let such lovely work crumble away!
I’m going to experiment, but that glycerine idea sounds very interesting and I actually have some! Thanks!!
well I can honestly say that I’ve never painted leaves before! 🙂 But i’d love to see how they weather. they would probably look really neat in a shadow box.
I was thinking a shadow box would be cool too~
I haven’t painted them but I have embroidered them! I know, kind of crazy–everyone kept asking me what I was going to do with them. I did it in December and mine are still green, although they are slightly grayer now and starting to be a little less pliable. But they are still beautiful, just like your painted ones. I’ll send you pictures if you like.
That would be awesome! Would love to see them 🙂
These are absolutely beautiful!!
After painting, press between glass or plexiglass and seal the edges with glue or copper stuff like for stain glass work and leave them there for ever.
I soaked my magnolia leaves for several hours in cold water I then laid them on a table to dry. I then pressed them between the pages of a heavy book for about a week. Before painting a leaf, I pressed them with a steam iron and then painted acrylic gesso on it before painting it. After painting it, I applied Mod Podge and let dry. They turned out great!!!
Wow! That sounds great. My hubby goes to Dallas often and I will have him get more leaves for me. Thanks for sharing your process!