Isn't it extraordinary how nature goes through the year? The seasons in the Netherlands alternate with different types of weather. Sometimes it is summery hot and sometimes the temperature drops below zero degrees. Wind, rain, storms, thunderstorms also pass by. And nature endures all this.
With trees, you see beautiful fresh green leaves emerge in spring, which already lose some of their beautiful fresh green under the influence of the summer sun. In autumn, many trees are at their most beautiful when the leaves turn to warm shades of red, orange and yellow.
When these autumn leaves start to fall, they become dry and sometimes break. This piece of nature then decays and also provides food for the soil on which they fall. And under the autumn leaves, many insects and other small critters shelter from the cold winter weather.
This decay of nature can be clearly seen with this photo. The veins of the leaf are still whole but small pieces of the leaf disappear in between.
The leaf has been given an artistic treatment by freezing it in water with some green paint added in a few places. This green symbolises the last chlorophyll still present in the leaf and its loss. This treatment with ice and paint has created an extraordinary natural work of art in warm autumn colours.
The leaf is from an Elm (Ulmus minor).
I see making art as a creative process.
The starting point of this process for me is always a photo or a painting of my own. Every work of art on this site is therefore based on a self-made photo or painting.
I find my sources of inspiration in everything around me...
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