Leaves & Blossoms: The Aesthetics of Decay

Dried Leaves and Blossoms in Mixed-Media Art

Leaves and blossoms become part of the image in these mixed-media works. Pressed plant material meets paint, writing and the open surface of the support. The leaf retains its own contour and veins, so that the artist works with a shape already marked by growth and drying. This attention to irregularity connects the series with wabi-sabi.

1. Plant Material and Painted Surfaces

Dried plant material introduces a surface that differs from the surrounding paint. In the example shown, fan-shaped leaves sit within a blue field crossed by pale writing. Their veins and uneven edges remain visible, giving the painted surface a second, finer structure.

View Series: Mixed Media with Leaves

Dried leaves and pale writing on blue — mixed media that retain the plant’s own veins and edges.

2. Writing and Botanical Forms

Writing and botanical fragments share a narrow white field. Pale petals and yellow leaves gather around the dark inscription, leaving considerable space between them. In other works in the series, the shape of a leaf becomes the support for a short poem or character.

View Series: Calligraphy on Leaves

Pressed petals and leaves beside a Chinese inscription — a small botanical collage.

3. Bookmarks and Small Works

The smaller works bring plant material into bookmarks and related paper pieces. The example shown places isolated brown leaves over a restrained, landscape-like ground. Their individual contours interrupt the horizontal movement of the painted passages.

View Series: Bookmarks

Dried leaves over a painted landscape — natural fragments carry their own irregular outlines.

Reading the Material

These works retain signs of drying, fading and damage as part of the composition. A vein can echo a drawn line; a torn edge can alter the shape of an open passage. The association with transience develops from those material details, without requiring the plant to stand for a single fixed idea.

Bookmarks – my love for old leaves

Withered Leaves and Blossoms

Ginkgo Leaves in Autumn and Winter