Painting Leaves Part 3: Spiderweb Tutorial

This blog post is part of a 3 part series on different ways to paint fall leaves. You can find the other tutorials here: sunflowers and abstract. Have fun!

Fall (and Halloween!) is my favorite time of the year and I thought I'd celebrate Autumn Equinox with an art project inspired by the season! I decided to replace my sketchbook pages with some fall leaves and tried painting them in a few different ways: adding sunflowers with a brush, experimenting with abstract and palette knives, and doing something a little more Halloween inspired with spiderwebs.

Trying a new canvas was interesting and I had a lot of fun painting leaves and seeing how each one turned out! 

I hope you'll take a stroll outside, pick up some leaves, and see where inspiration takes you! If you'd like to go add some spiderwebs to your leaves, here's a step-by-step tutorial with photos:

YOU'LL NEED:

• Leaf/leaves (not too dried otherwise it may easily crack)
• Gel pen in white
• Ruler
• Acrylic paint in black (I like Liquitex brand acrylics as they are a bit thicker consistency)
• Palette for paint (you can use a paper plate, yogurt lid, it doesn’t have to be fancy!)
• Medium brush, I used an 18 flat
• Cup of water to clean brush between colors
• Paper towel to dab brush so it’s not too wet 

PROCESS:

1.    Start by painting your leaf black. I chose to stop at the edges so the leaf       

       color would show through in those areas. Let the paint dry.

2.    Add a second coat if desired. (I used 2 coats.)

3.    Once the paint is completely dry, draw straights lines from the center of the

       leaf out to the edge, making your way all around the leaf. Use a ruler but

       make sure to work away from the lines you've already drawn to prevent any

       smearing! Let the gel pen ink dry.

4.    Start filling in the spiderweb with horizontal lines between each straight line.

       Begin at the center and spiral outwards. Continue filling it in to the desired

       amount until the web is finished.

     

TIPS:

• Test out gel pen on the back of the leaf or an extra leaf before using to make sure it has an even smooth flow. 
• Look up images of real spiderwebs for inspiration.
• Don't try to do a design that is too small--the lines will blend together and won't look clean and clear.
• Try adding some dark blue and purples to the black background.