Seasonal Leaves Series — Spring

Seasonal Leaves Series – Spring.

Seasonal Leaves, Spring, is the start of the changing seasons as they affect Maple leaves. Changing seasons bring stunning transformations to the landscape, and the Maple tree captures this beautifully. In spring, tender yellow-green leaves unfurl on new branches — a moment of quiet renewal before summer’s fuller greens. This painting is part of a four-piece series celebrating the Maple’s transformation through spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZE: 8 x 10 | ORIENTATION: Landscape | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, Giclée Fine Art Archival paper and ink | AVAILABILITY: Prints available | CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ARTIST’S PROCESS:

Seasonal Leaves Series — Spring, part of the Seasonal Leaves Series, was painted in Procreate on a 13″ iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. Each painting in this set of four builds traditional painting’s depth and texture through layered digital brushwork. A careful structural drawing was made for each of the seasonal leaves on separate canvases. Color blocking for each type of leaf and the chosen background was laid down, followed by multiple rounds of detail work and value refinement on the different textures and characteristics for each leaf in the series. A final set of layers perfecting shadow and light was created using Procreate brushes appropriate to the scale of the subject and seasonal lighting source to finalize each version.

CHALLENGE:

Since this series represents 4 completely different environments, the background details had to be chosen to match the mood of each particular season while keeping the series connected. To achieve this, a watercolor style background was chosen to go across the series to highlight the colors prevalent in each season and allowing the soft wash of colors to complement the leaves’ details without distracting from the main focus of each piece. Multiple layers and Procreate watercolor brushes were used to lay down a main background wash, and a soft round Procreate brush was used to dab appropriate colors or muted details into the background wash, allowing the added colors to spread out over the primary color, completing the season quietly in the background of each painting.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES:

Botanical — Maple Leaves — Seasons — Nature — Watercolor Background — Botanical Art — CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION