Week 75: Adobe Illustrator

Chortitza oak leaves © Karen Thiessen, 2013

I've finally started to play with my "leaves of significance" a bit more. This Chortitza oak leaf is very expressive. Over the summer I collected some here and there and my kind uncle mailed me a bouquet from his tree, so I have plenty to work with. It's clear that until I started this project (a.k.a.healthy obsession), I had never looked at leaves this closely. What I've learned from the leaves that I've collected, is that each one is slightly different. Until now, I assumed that all the leaves on a particular tree were pretty much the same. Thank goodness I was wrong because the world has become an even more fascinating place. Each of my Chortitza oak leaves is different in size, shape and surface markings. At the moment, I'm mostly interested how the shapes vary.

Normally I look at the leaves with the stems facing down. By chance I flipped this leaf and it immediately made me think of Japanese calligraphy. Do you see what I mean?