Unlocking Your Creativity:
Learn to Think Like a Designer a class taught by Faye Brown on Skillshare
In this class I had to choose 1 item to illustrate in 100 different ways,
using a variety of techniques.
This would force me to think beyond the obvious.

My chosen item was a “Leaf”, simple but so essential in life.

Started out with baby-steps and a glimpsed at my pin-board “Leaves” on Pinterest.

You are welcome to visit it and maybe follow me there. Enjoy!
So here I start with some simple line drawings, most of them will be numbered.

Every LEAF speaks GROWTH to me, towards becoming the PLANT, or even a weed,
then perhaps a TREE and maybe wonderful FOOD too!

Then I took the Leaf to a “Brainstorm Session” today and had a blast …so many ideas!

It almost felt like it went to The Courtier’s  and had a fabulous outfit made, a true ensemble!

After looking at the pics taken from a day of snow, I then saw the “Leaf in The Branch”…

This little collection of leaves were done with a ballpoint pen and pastel pencils.
They were fun to do, almost like miniature Kandinskys!

---

“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty.
And that’s the way new leaves grow.”
― AMIT RAY

---

Are there any more creatures I might have missed? Let me know, thank you.

Tried some gloss medium rendering with watercolor washes…
…with a few boo-boos sprinkled around.

Some dried Ginkgo Leaves I had collected and then painted. They have such beautiful shapes!
They are like feathers, fleeting clouds, falling snow, a rainshower or a ray of light.

---

I saw the sunlight in a leafy place,
Bathing itself in liquid green and amber–
Where every flower had tears hid in its petals,
And every leaf was lovely with the rain.

—ERNEST RHYS, “April Romance”, The Leaf Burners and Other Poems

These are repurposed Brie Cheese Box-Lids with Leaf Paintings… might do a few more.
I think a Leaf within a Circle is so uplifting.

---

Half way there… with a “Promise of Spring”. #50
Done with an ink drawing and then digital manipulation.

Going from painterly to graphic… black and yellow so effective!

“Ain’t made of jello, get behind a fellow, black and yellow!” –BEE Movie (2007)
…should I add a Bumble Bee Leaf?

I felt myself slipping into that dip and got to thinking about that leaf,
when it dawned on me: “GOLD LEAF”.

So I did a quick attempt using some “gold leaf” in my sketch book!

Worked on some more leaves… line drawings… and then finding the shape…
Going more for a graphic feel here.

I never know what will pop-up in my sketchbook. It’s like magic!

---

“Every leaf is a spacious plain; every line a flowing brook; every period a lofty mountain.” – JAMES HERVEY

---

This is for someone who loves this leaf! – Simón Berges

The Earth shows love in so many ways. ♥ ♥ ♥ Happy Valentine’s Day ♥ ♥ ♥

I found some homes within the leaves. And it’s finally here #100 – a leaf for meditation & prayer.

And softly through the altered air… Hurries a timid leaf. – EMILY DICKINSON, “Indian Summer”

---

This class forced me to be pretty inventive on such a simple item: a leaf! A very rewarding experience.
Thank You Faye Brown… would do it again!

---

 

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love”
~William Blake

 

A beautiful tree crafted from the loving hands of artisans and made with tiny seed-like beads.

---

“To those who have given up on love: I say, ‘Trust life a little bit.’”
~Maya Angelou

---

A small painting created from magic, with a new method and medium.
If you have followed me on Instagram, you would have seen all these images…
…sprinkled here and there, whispering.
They have now found a home together under the stars!

“Whisper to The Stars” © Lisa Rivas
• 11.5″ x 11.5″ • Mixed media on Birch board, ready to hang – BUY

---

“I will love the light for it shows me the way,
yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.
~Og Mandino