Autumn is not over

There are some people that start to sing carols and put up all the Christmas ornaments and decorations right after Halloween. But Autumn is not over. The season will still reign until next Winter's Solstice (shortest day of the year). Leaves are swirling around swept by the wind. Days are dimming as I wake up to foggy frosty mornings. I am one of those people that struggle to let Autumn go, I somehow hold on to its languid, romantic and melancholic beauty. And here is my seasonal drawing "Mother of Leaves". Traditional inkfelt pen markers and coloured pencils on paper. I did not even use paper of the proper weight, as I was meant to be just a doodle and I was just flowing ahead with it. But it felt good to finish it, even if a tiny sketch, because I have been neglecting my illustrations for a while. On top of that just when I was determined a month ago I had a minor accident and I am rehabbing a whiplash LOL XD so alas! Now I struggle to sit at the desktop for a long period but that WON'T STOP ME :). One of my resolutions for the forthcoming year is to nourish my art again. So here it is:

Mother of Leaves

Above: My recent Drawing: Mother of Leaves

It was inspired by a leaf I collected while practicing my mindful walking (I made a post a while back about that healthy habit I took up this year and been doing for many months now)
A leaf like this one...

What can make a leaf special among so many scattered leaves?
I wonder if that is how we artists feel sometimes...
But somehow you are drawn to pick one in particular
I hope that is the way some people think of my art and music when they connect with it

Do you ever press leaves?
I press a few each autumn and I love to find them months later when I randomly open the pages of my books. I never remember where I place them, so sometimes I read again a book and there are like a treasure being found.

Drawing again (still one of my resolutions)

One thing I love about Autumn is that you feel that the year draws to an end but it still HAS NOT FINISHED, so you are still in time to try out some of the pending resolutions you made last one.
So this is one of my traditional drawings. It's made on thin paper so just made as practice. And it's not perfect, it's not even as "fine" or "detailed" as I used to draw when I had the "patience" but we'll get there.
As I have mentioned before I had a bad thumb sprain that took a long time to recover. It still hurts sometimes but I can now grasp a pencil firmly. It was a very slow and frustrating process, and somehow when you don't draw consistently for a while you just fall out of practice. I trust now my pulse is steady enough though I still struggle on the small details. I have been doodling on a sketchbook and realizing how much I miss. Here another similar sketch I did recently and I sent as surprise gift to one of my listeners
They don't need to be perfect for now... and there's a freshness in rough unplanned doodling I really enjoy.

And here another previous sketch for Summer which I also gifted away. I like to write old fashioned letters, and they're all with the right people. :) But I will make some originals on sale soon. Still I include it in this post because it would be in the same series of the one that opens the post.

I will try to save to buy a small tablet to paint. Everybody recommends procreate but that software only works on IPAD. Are you familiar with it? Apple devices are more expensive for the same specs but maybe it's worth to consider if the software is as artist friendly as they say. I'd like to have something portable also to use it when I'm in bed where I love to doodle before I go to sleep. I want to make the process easier, no painful long whiles crouched at the desk, or scattered paints on a messy desktop. I have to confess though that digital makes me slow because I zoom and zoom and the need to perfect details arises again! LOL So one thing I'm retraining myself for during this phase is to "keep the rough and freshness". So far I have got Clip studio paint for myself and I have a lot of training to do before getting used to digital media again, maybe even learning some small animations for my music.

Yes some months ago I shared another drawing in this post and I said the same thing... yet somehow I was not consistent. I guess I'm writing this again to remind myself. You need to set up your intentions :) (as many times as needed)

ps. I do not know anything about NFTs and anything of the sort but I would be grateful of some advice. I'm still on discord. So far I'm just making traditional art but I want to move back to digital at some point.

Some of the myths and legends that explain the change of the colours of the leaves

In Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania) mythology there are many "Mothers of Nature" called Māte (Mahte). There are many of them (up to 60 different goddesses representing different aspects of Nature like fog, wind, earth, and even death). Lapu Māte (Mother of Leaves) according to their folklore is the goddess that is responsible of the changing colours we appreciate in Autumn.

In Greek mythology the "Horae" were goddeses of Seasons and Natural Order. Carpo (bear fruit) was the embodiment of Autumn (and its harvest) along with Winter." Carpo ("bear fruit"). There were only 3 seasons in Ancient Greek: Spring, Summer and Harvest.

Among Native American Algonquin tribes it was believed that leaves would turn red in Autumn because of a mythical Bear. Once it terrorized the tribes and the best
warriors were chosen to hunt it down, and they have been endlessly chasing it since. Though injured they were not able to kill it and thus in Autumn when he rises from the horizon its blood drips painting the trees in Autumn colors.

The science behind the colour of Autumn leaves

At the Autumn Equinox day and night last the same but after that days start to get shorter and light dims. Because of the changes in the wavelength of daylight and temperature, Photosynthesis (the chemical reaction that enables plants to transform Solar Energy into sugar) slows down until stopping and the green pigment Chlorophyll breaks down, so once its green color disappears we can see the yellow, orange and red colors of the Fall.
Once the dominant green is gone the other pigments presents are revealed and become more apparent. Once leaves stop doing their job, and hormonal changes occur in the plants, they dry up and die, and plants produce an hormone that signals the falling of the leaf in a process known as "leaf abscission" become bare to get ready for their Winter rest.
Some Autumn colors are characteristic of different species of trees and shrubs from the light tan of slender birth trees, to the scarlet red of Red Maple. And all those leaves from deciduous trees that fall are not wasted, they will feed soil organisms, decompose and become fertile humus.
Some perennial trees and plants are Evergreen and they remain green cos they can endure cold conditions because their foliage is like a needle, or hardened covered in wax or scales. Somehow Evergreen plants have become a symbol of hope during the bare Winter.

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