a gift of leaves

For a few months now I have been using real leaves that I dye and then incorporate their images into my artwork. I have collected leaves from many places...friends yards, strangers lawns (after they fell off the trees), and restaurant parking lots to name a few. One day this summer Megan introduced me to the head gardener for the city of Fayetteville who kindly cut me a three different kinds of fern branches from the beautiful garden in the historical downtown square.

It has become a bit of an obsession.

These leaves were a gift from Stewart and Megan. On the surface it is a gift of leaves, but it is also a gift of encouragement, a vote of confidence in the work I'm doing. Keep it up, the leaves say to me, we want to see more.

It is a precious gift, and I cherish it.