With chaos...

...all around me as I clean and purge (we're planning on a spring down-sizing), I've been doing much too little in the studio.  That does not mean, however, that I can't appreciate the out-of-control colour around me as we head towards the end of fall.

Here's what I mean:

The front lawn is carpeted with maple leaves.

The shrubbery in the backyard fairly shouts with riotous colour against the clear blue of the sky.

The mountain ash down the street is laden with berries.

There's glistening gold everywhere I look.

Even the fallen colour carries that POW factor.

Strawflowers are gorgeous at this time of the year.

Sunflowers are at their best as they wave goodbye to summer.

Of course, there's colour on the web when I need a break from all that sorting/organizing/cleaning, etc.  Here are a few of the luscious goodies I found over the past week or so.

Wendy Mamattah

Anita Bloch Ceramics

Debbie Colby

We live in a magical world, don't we?  Everywhere we look there's a feast for the eyes.

I'm leaving...

...but in a good way.  In the fall, the two maple trees in the front yard keep us 'leaving' until well into November.

  They are each well over a thousand feet tall (or at least drop leaves as though they are) 

They cover the lawn,

 

and the car,

and require constant raking

and bagging.

It's one of our major signals that fall has fully arrived.

They fill our yard with colour and richness, provide pressed leaves for mixed media fodder, and are a strong antidote to the thought of cooler weather to follow.

What is your major autumn signal?  How does your colour grow?

Further confessions...

...of an addict - I collect leaves, leaves and more leaves.  I press them,

dry them, store them,

create with them, and then do the same thing the following year.  I have a collection of fall leaves that would likely rival the number of Carter's peanuts, and yet I can't seem to stop. 

At the front of the house where our two glorious maples reign (see previous post), the ground is covered with such a vast array of vivid reds, oranges, golds and green that my mouth waters in anticipation.  Now if I could just stop picking, pressing and drying, I might actually do some creating with them.  More to come....