Altered Book Pages: Autumn Leaves

I'm really working hard to reach my goal of finishing my altered Amber vintage book. Recently, I finished up a page that I started ages ago. I just looked back through my photos and found the "completed" background in July. But I know the first steps are much older than that... years old! It feels good to be able to call this one done!

Here's the background first:

It's been so long, I don't exactly remember the steps I took for the background, but I have a vague idea based on these photos. When I was working on it in July, I know I already had a layer of paint down. Bright colours and some black. Anyway, I then added some collage elements and washi tape and a thin wash of gesso... and that's where it sat until last week. Here's what I did with that:

In July, all those colours were warm and summery. In October, they reminded me of fall foliage. So I roughly sketched out two leaves and painted their outline in black (with a hint of purple and blue). I added some copper paint to the leaves to really bring that autumn touch. A few doodles and ink splatter and I was done. I love the sketchy feel of those leaves!

Materials used:

• assorted papers (handmade, tissue paper)
• washi tape
• paint and gesso
• Sharpie pens (white, bronze)
• India ink (black, orange)