Lioness silhouette net

Oils on gum leaf 14cm x 8cm

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Comment by Maria S Cabrero on February 9, 2011 at 4:33: Liked the colours! and the subject of course =)

Comment by Roena King on November 21, 2010 at 3:24: Wow, Jeffrey. I think that is pretty encouraging to continue knowing you work can last for years. Ro

Comment by Jeffery Doherty on November 21, 2010 at 2:09: Just discovered that there was an artist called Alfred William Eustace (1820-1907), who painted on gum leaves.
Four of his leaf paintings were recently donated to The Chiltern Athenaeum museum and are still in remarkably good condition after 160 years. Wow!

Comment by Jeffery Doherty on November 17, 2010 at 2:46: Hi Holly, Gum leaves are pretty sturdy to start with and I press them inside a book between paper towel until they are dry. Once they are dry I give them a coat of clear sealer before painting them. Once they are mounted behind glass they should last for decades, if not longer. I have a dried flower that was pressed by my great grandmother. The colour has faded, but that's not a problem to worry about using oil paints. Maple leaves are harder because they are more fragile. I press them in an actual craft press so they are completely flat and then mount them onto a watercolour paper backing for added strungth.

I've seen paintings on feathers before. They are very interesting and I might have a try at that technique one day. I love experimenting with my paintings.

Comment by Holly Pilgrim on November 16, 2010 at 8:17: Wow, Jeff - this is very beautiful! How on earth do you preserve a leaf?
Holly

ps. there is a lady in my town who paints portraits of white-tailed deer on turkey feathers... :-) Sells them to hunters, too!

Comment by Jeffery Doherty on November 13, 2010 at 1:02: Thank's Terry. Funny story. A few years ago, I was on holidays and ran out of canvas and wc paper but still felt the urge to paint. I found some nice big flat leaves in the garden at the resort and painted a couple of seascapes and a silhouette of a whistling kite. Last year, some kids I work with found the paintings and they asked me something when I was really busy. I just said, 'Yes, I'm sure that would be fine.' and they went away. I wasn't really listening to the question and didn't realise what they asked until they started handing leaves to me.
They actually asked, 'If I find a leave will you paint me a picture?' I couldn't go back on my word so I ended up painting about a dozen leaves for the kids with their very favourite things on them. Now I'm doing them for myself. (They are selling too.) Working out the composition for each picture can get a bit tricky, but they are fun to do. Some of the detailed ones take quite a few hours to paint but the lioness only took about 15 minutes.