paper & leaf

well, my first design idea is coming to an end. after days and days of working endlessly with paper and leaves, i feel i have come to know exactly what my ideas are and how to convey them.

when i first approached this idea, i saw a lot of japanese cultural influences. bonsai trees and ikebana floral arrangements. cultural ties are always a very early start for me. i also liked the idea of combining the leaf on the paper to make it appear as something natural, like rocks. i took photos of leaves on rocks and began some major brainstorming.

for the second class session i began to play around with paper textures. how to turn just simple computer paper into something that looked aged and carried a rough and ridged texture to it. at this point in my process i also began to less favor the new and green leaves and began to fall in love with the colors, textures, and shapes of the dried old leaves.

i then moved in a direction of combining the paper, now with very realistic textures very similar to leaves through processes of damping the paper, tearing, rubbing on concrete, and even blowing cigarette smoke over the damp paper to give it yellow and brown stains, i played with the idea of making the paper look like the same leaf as the real one. i liked combining this idea of artificial growing just as a leaf would from a plant. i also had this very childish and naive notion of looking at the two items now, and viewing them as roommates. if this leaf had a buddy, what would he be like, was a constant question i began to ask myself as i worked with the paper.

this childish idea was also sparked within me because i felt like a young mind again. i was playing with items in my hands, the sky was the limit on where i could go... i let my imagination take over. it was like playing in my own world again. it began at the point to feel very therapeutic and liberating.

then i feel the last and final step process came when i choose the holly leaf to be my favorite. i like the scary points at the end. i began to study the leaf, and i started to wonder about his personality. i saw the holly as standoffish and reclusive. so i began to play on the idea of his home, what would he want to live in, and through earlier texture ideas and playing off earlier ideas, i finally found the fit.

the showing is tomorrow. i feel proud in my work. it was a road that was not always easy, but i feel i have grown to know my creative process a lot better. i hope to have photos up soon.