Doodle on a Rock - Concentric Maple Leaves

Concentric Maple Leaves, originally uploaded by escher....

It's a horrible, grey, rainy day today and I am having to do some work. That makes me glad that it is miserable as I feel there is nothing I am missing out on. Summer seems to have completely gone and yet the autumn colours aren't in full swing. The sculptures I've made in the last couple of weeks have made it look like the autumnal flush is full on here but that isn't true at all. The fire colored maple leaves I collected were all from half of one tree.

It's an odd one and I first noticed it last year. One half of the tree, in late august bursts into every shade of yellow, orange and red while the rest of the tree stays green and changes when all of it's neighbours do later on in September.

But much like it might appear to you that it is very colourful here, it felt like that to me too. Through collecting the most colourful leaves I could find, studying and working with them before photographing and looking at the photos, I got drawn into the colour and it filled my mind and senses.

Of course there are a few trees that are changing quickly but really they are few and far between. At least where the coloured leaves are below a height that can be reached by me. Yesterday I went searching and visited the trees I know best that produce good colours and things have some way to go yet. But the temperature is changing and a dip will certainly set them on their way.

I remarked yesterday that a year ago I thought I was getting into autumn too early. I changed my moniker to ...waiting for autumn... and by the time it was really in full swing I'd exhausted some ideas as I'd got in amongst the colours so early in the season. I think I may be doing it again this year. But when the weather can be so changeable and uninspiring you need to take your opportunities to get out there and use the colours you find.

It is another of the joys and fascinations of land art that with ephemeral materials, that appear only at certain times of the year, you cannot really plan what it is you want to make. If I wanted to make another Autumn Fire Colour Wheel then I would need enough fiery maple leaves. But there just aren't enough available again after what I harvested last week. When I created my first sculpture with cherry leaves it is something I have wanted to do again. But since then the four trees (in a group together) have not produced all those colours at once and the leaves have been more bedragled and diseased.

You have to play the cards that Mother Nature deals to you. This might seem like a pain and constraining to what you would like to achieve but it is the completely opposite of that. It is fascinating to learn more and more about how things change over the days, months and years. You'd never notice if you didn't look as closely as that and yet there is still many lifetimes of mysteries to discover.

I made this back in June when I created this and was waiting for the sun to move. Just a quick doodle on a rock (which might sound like a poodle doing its do on rock but it's not). The contrast was very strong so the rock looks like it is set in a sea of black as a camera cannot handle the dynamic range as well as the eye.

Oh and I'm now a Twit. Someone asked if I was a Twit and whether I announced what I've been up to as a Twit. Well I've always been a twit and now I'm a fully fledged Twit (as you can tell if you are still reading this) so if you wish to follow me on Twitter I am @escher303. Don't expect such things as "I've just pinned a leaf to a tree" and "I've just done another one" but I probably will mention if there is a new sculpture on Flickr or my blog and I'll have a whinge about the weather.

I'd thought I'd never bother with Twitter, and I don't do Facebook (arrggghhhh) but if it helps let anyone who is interested on what I've been up to then there it will be. But Flickr is the only social networking site for me. I don't really want to know what you've had for breakfast but I love to see what you've been creating. :-)