I am a gatherer.....of all things natural. I see so much beauty and creative possibilities in fallen leaves, little sticks, acorns, stones and little plant pieces...anything I find on the ground. So many people these days are looking down at their phones, I'm also looking down...but on the ground for whatever I might find that interests me.
I always have a cloth bag folded into my pocket ready to hold all of the beautiful pieces of nature that I find and gather. I always see a future artistic purpose and creation for each piece that I gather. I am an avid painter, crafter and nature journal creator. I use the little gathered pieces in pictures, add them to woodland whimsical characters that I create out of fabric and also to add to the many junk journals that I am always adding more pages to...
Because it is Fall, I have been collecting fallen leaves that I am drawn to, various pieces of plant matter and interesting shaped twigs. When I get all of my new finds home, I decide on a color palette and design and then I get to work arranging all of these new fascinating pieces of nature. After creating the picture that I want to create on a clean canvas, I layer on a coat of paint, just on one side to each piece and lay it back down in its place. Then I proceed to cover the arrangement with parchment paper and a piece of muslin fabric. I then press down with my hands or use a roller...one of my vintage rolling pins over all of my pieces. After feeling satisfied with the amount of pressure...I carefully lift the cloth and parchment paper and then carefully remove the leaves and plant matter with tweezers. Finally, I stand back and am always amazed at the amount of detail that the paint brings out in these beautiful pieces of nature. If it didn't work....I create a collage over the intended piece...I'm sure that this is how the concept of a collage began...
I am always on the hunt for pieces of driftwood. Fortunately, new ones seem to wash in closer to shore every week. I try to just take (rehome) what I love...and leave some for others and just generally...leave them where they landed. Where we walk each day is at a beautiful park that jets out into the Bay. Our favorite place to sit awhile to enjoy the beauty and the sound of the waves is a big old fallen tree that sees waves coming in from several different directions. What a lovely place to live. So much to hear and see. This is my favorite place to sit and enjoy and also to see what the waves have brought in each day. I never thought that a discovered piece of a broken branch or root would make me so happy...but it does. When I pick up and handle each piece, I think about how far it's traveled and how many hundreds of times it's been rolled around making it so smooth and unique.
I am currently using a longer piece of driftwood to hang from the ceiling displaying the dried orange slices, lemon peel stars and brown paper bag stars that I have been making for the upcoming Holiday...and after.
Every driftwood piece is like a cloud overhead. If you watch or look at it for a while, you begin to see a character developing. Of the pieces that I have collected over the years, I have many that have holes where a knot once way...so, a marble or a bead can be inserted in that space for the light to shine through. Some pieces look like birds and others like fish. Longer, gnarled, knotty pieces of driftwood just stand in the corner looking like they are in charge.
I belong to several Facebook groups whose members are also lovers of all thing's natural with a piece of driftwood as the center of their creations. An equal amount of the members just enjoy their natural beauty, and others rework the piece into something artistic and unique. I have seen beautiful chandeliers, picture frames and table center pieces that are decorated for each different seasons...with other natural pieces, pine boughs, leaves, berries and flowers. I also love the collected driftwood pieces that are used in large plants...sometimes decorating them with seashells and beautiful rocks.
I used a few of my longer pieces of driftwood to assist with the growing of our beautiful, bountiful tomato plants this summer. Now with the growing season coming to an end, the pieces of driftwood now live in the house for us to admire and appreciate their effort of holding up the thick tomato plants so that we could enjoy homegrown tomatoes on our sandwiches and in our salads...
So much natural beauty and so many artistic ways to use....I love driftwood...
