Autumn Breeze I & II are 15x22" mixed media collages on watercolor paper.  They started out abstract with a vague linear underpainting and random pieces of collage paper applied, actually with a vertical orientation instead of the horizontal one you see here.  I let them sit for a while to see what they might tell me about where they should go.  Sometimes that takes a while and then one day, I suddenly know exactly what I want to do.  I realized the shapes of the paper reminded me of leaves blowing around in the wind.  When I rotated the images, the brushwork in the background became a forest with light dappling through.  From there, I used acrylic paint to define and explain the backlit leaves with their veins and shadows.  The result is not highly realistic but an impression, letting the materials themselves have as much presence as the imagery.  As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed working on these.  Happy Tuesday!