Fall is my favorite time of year.  Most likely because I am fascinated with leaves.  As autumn approaches the leaves start to change into the most awesome colors.  Right outside my front door I have a dwarf burning bush.  It’s not so small anymore since I refuse to trim it.  Already the green leaves of summer are starting to turn red.    The colors of fall are so vivid and seem to all coordinate together.

There is change in the air.  The days are not as hot and the nights can be chilly.  Wearing a jacket to work in the morning but then not needing it on the way home.    Change is all around us all the time.   That is not a bad thing at all.   Change often means growth, adjustments, lessons learned and new wisdom gained.  That is where we get the expression “turning over a new leaf”.  Fall is a good example of change leading into the first buds of spring.  If the leaves had not fallen there would be no room for the new growth.

The leaf seems carefree as if it is meant to float to the ground.  

Leaves accumulate.  

The wind blows the leaves into piles.   The stray leaves get raked into a pile (I hate leaf blowers – too noisy and if you have that many leaves you should be mulching them). 

Watching a leaf float from a tree is probably the greatest thing for me.  Alot of this is the reason why I created the Leafpile.   Lately I have been getting questions at shows about the meaning of the name so I figured I would take a few moments on this first day of fall to explain as best I can.

The creative things around me gather one at a time until eventually a pile is formed.   I meet new artistic friends and enjoy sharing in the art they create.   My mind envisions new ideas.   Taking classes to improve my skills helps me to grow.  I am inspired by all that is around me.  All of this gathers in my mind.   Any idea that might become something later goes into my art journal.  Now that I am on volume 3 it is interesting to look back to the previous volumes and see what inspirations turned into reality and those that fell by the wayside.   Some might still become a project so they are stored where I can review each page.

My creative business has been evolving more and more into using recycled or re-used items and creating art from them.   Nature continues to be a big part of that as I strive to keep great things from going to their demise in a landfill.    Wouldn’t it be better to re-create it into something decorative, useful, or imaginative?  I say it would!   At this point in time the only thing made from new items are my greeting cards and even that is in the midst of change.   

Everything I make is slightly unique.  Leaves look similar but they will never be exactly the same.  The colors will change, the size will differ.  I work by inspiration with items that I have on hand.   There is no mass production going on here.   I can recreate the idea again and it might be similar but not a duplicate.

This weekend I will be participating at Arts In The Park.   A few months ago when I send in the application I was nervous and apprehensive about it.  I was thrilled to be accepted into such a large show and now I am more excited than nervous.  It is held annually at the Smithville Mansion in Mount Holly, NJ.  

Come out and see how the pile has gathered and enjoy a day of the arts!

www.leafpile.org     a pile gathering one creative leaf at a time…