A leaf is a leaf is a leaf...

Simon Says Stamp and Show want to see real leaves used in our projects, so here comes mine!
I am also entering The Artistic Stamper Creative blog October challenge with this project.

Well, the poor leaves had to endure a lot of "treatments" I admit. It almost felt, like I was violating nature. Naah, ...almost ;)

It was a bit difficult taking a picture of the whole project, because it is quite huge, but I hope you can see enough. Close-ups are coming up anyway.

First I sprayed the leaves with Glimmer Mists and let them dry. Then I gave them a coat of white Gesso, doing this twice, as the first always mixes up with the sprayed on colours. But the second layer ( a thicker coat this time) always becomes lighter, when you provide sufficient drying time between each coating.I also made sure that the edges of the Gesso layers blended with the areas I left without Gesso.

Into the almost dried Gesso I printed the Tim Holtz "fallen leaves" stamps with Distress ink "rusty hinge" - so I got a print and a relief as well.
Around the printed images I gave some areas a treat with patina, to get a look of decay and rotting with some visual quality.

While the patina did its' working, I prepared the background and the labels, which are meant as a quotation of Magrittes paintings, un-naming things ("Ceci n'est pas une pipe") while showing them in the painting, and Getrude Steins later "A rose is a rose is a rose".

Why are we so touched by fallen leaves every autumn, although we know it is a sign of decay (and rebirth as well)? When does a leaf stop being a leaf? Is it still a leaf, if I print a (non-real) leaf onto it and thus make it a background for an image of a leaf? Is it twice a leaf then and thus even more "leaf"? ;)

But back to the project:
I wrote the words with a black brush tip pen, tore the labels using a firmly held down acrylic block,  and blended the edges with "peeled paint" Distress ink.

For the background I took a piece of corrugated card and gave it a coat of white Gesso first. Then I blended "peeled paint", "broken china" and "vintage photo" onto some areas and dry-brushed some more white Gesso with a hard brush onto some of these areas to get a little more texture. Some of the edges were embossed with aged copper embossing powder for a little bling.

Two holes, some wire for the hanging, positioning the leaves and glueing them onto their spaces - wallaaah!

Here are the promised close-ups: