Collaboration with old friends

I'm very fortunate that two of my best friends from childhood remain as two of my best friends today. I've been friends with Jean Neron since we met in high school, and have been friends with Jim Martin since we were about 5 years old. Neither of them do any painting on their own, but they both have an interest in painting, and are both quite creative.  Since I took up painting as a hobby in 2008, we have gotten together several times for painting sessions, either in my basement studio, or in Jim's garage. We always have a great time, and it seems like we always end up with at least one collaborative piece that is worth keeping.

Our most recent painting session took place last Saturday. With the abundance of beautiful maple leaves covering his lawn, Jim had the great idea of bringing along some leaves to use as stencils during the painting process.

The attached painting, which we titled "Strong And Free" (based on the lyrics from the Canadian national anthem), is the result of this collaboration with good friends, some barley and malts, a few carefully chosen maple leaves, and some paints to represent the beautiful colours that define autumn. We tried to create the feeling of leaves being blown around in a storm, and all three of us were pleased with the result.

The close up photos show how the details of the leaves came through, which I found quite pleasantly  surprising.