Tips for Autumn Re-Leaf
I find autumn to be one of nature’s most breathtaking Art + Well experiences. I'm excited to share some of the beauty, botany, and magical mindfulness of our fall foliage.
Beautiful, Fun and Healthy?
Why am I paying so much attention to autumn? Well, a) I find it quite beautiful and fun; b) it has great health benefits. The more we actively engage with seasonal shifts, the more our minds and bodies can adjust and acclimate. Psst, this is mindfulness.
Throughout this blog you’ll find leafy ways you can have fun and engage with fall foliage. Try one or all seven. Choose your own adventure!
So, Why DO Leaves Change Color in the Fall?
One of the things I just love about art + wellness, is that I’ve gotten even more curious. I’ve turned into a PreK-er always asking, “WHY?” My latest question: “why do leaves change color in the fall?”
A Color Reveal Party
Ok, this is going to get a bit science-y. Hang in there. Leaves contain chemical pigments including chlorophylls (green) and carotenoids (yellows, oranges). Both of these chemicals are present in a leaf, spring to fall. The green chlorophylls mask the yellow and orange carotenoids during the summer. In the fall, the chlorophyll starts to break down (less light, colder temps) revealing the warmly-hued carotenoids. Mind blown!
The Red Leaves of Transformation
Leaves that turn from green to red have a different party going on. In late summer, these leaves undergo a chemical transformation producing the red-purple pigment anthocyanin.
We are getting above my pay-grade. Here’s a link to a really good article from the Smithsonian Magazine about the whole process. It is truly botanical alchemy to me!
Art + Well Whole-Brain Seasonal Coloring
Check out this grove of trees by participants from a “DoodleTATE to De-stress” class. After doodling a tree and its roots, they engaged in my whole-brain coloring exercise proven to soothe (Google “EMDR”) while also helping your brain with seasonal transitions. Want to give it a go?
Select your favorite colored pencils, crayons, or pastels. (You want to be able to blend colors, so markers don’t work well.)
Optional: Doodle a tree. You can do with just color too.
Pick out a few summer greens and a few fall warm hues -- reds, oranges, yellows.
Going from the left edge of your paper to the center, color green with abandon, no need to say within any lines.
Switch to their non-dominant hand. Going from the right edge of your paper to the center, add a fall color.
Repeated several times, overlapping the greens and warm colors towards the center.
Autumn Leaf Transformation Meditation
Here’s a clip from an amazing little film of leaves in the process of changing colors. Biology student Owen Reiser took more than 6,000 time-lapse photos of 8 different trees and then assembled them into a video.
This two-minute leaf transformation is a lovely visual meditation. Try synching slow, even breaths with the gentle pace that Reiser uses in the film. Here’s a link to the video. Similar to the coloring exercise, it helps your brain process autumn’s transitions.
Go Outside and Immerse Yourself
Want to experience fall colors first hand? Check out this interactive 2024 fall foliage map of the US from SmokyMountains.com. You can click on the week and see where fall foliage is peak!
For Our Leafy Friends, Form Follows Function
A friend recently shared a beautiful leaf from a sassafras tree. I just love its deep, sloping curves. Before I drew sassafras leaves above, I did an image search.
Ready to have your mind blown?
While the sassafras is known for its terrific aroma and medicinal properties, did you know it has several different leaf shapes? This is highly unusual in the world of leaves and trees.
Why is that? And for that matter, why do leaves of various plants and trees have such different shapes?
Turns out, like all great design, the form of a leaf follows its function. A leaf’s shape “must be open enough to capture sunlight for all-important photosynthesis,” says Treehugger. “It also needs to make sure a leaf is shaped in a way that ensures the pores … can soak up enough carbon dioxide, which helps fuel that process.”
So a sharp-angled leaf can produce its own shade, thus toning down how much sunlight it receives while rounder leaves take in more rays.
Back to our sassafras. Young sassafras trees have the mitten-shaped leaves called bi-lobed and the tri-lobed leaves. Mature ones have “entire” leaves which have an almond-like shape.
Dr. David Reed, Professor of Horticulture at Texas A&M University, writes that “Once the tree reaches the light of the upper canopy, the “entire” leaves are more frequent.” So as the tree grows and has more access to sunlight, its leaf shape changes to meet its light-energy needs!
Know Your Margins
“Margins” in foliage parlance are the distinct edges of leaves. In a terrific meeting of art and science, the taxonomy of leaf edges matches up with the artist’s language regarding line type and quality. Why didn’t we just learn leaf margins in art school? (Perhaps that’s what Georgia O’Keeffe was trying to tell us! See below.)
So for example, a leaf might have a serrate margin that looks like the sharp teeth of a saw, what we’d call a jagged line. Which two leaf shapes in the graphic above might have a serrate edge? The sassafras leaves, on the other hand, are lobed (kind of like ear lobes). Can you find the lobed leaf shape in the above line-up?
I just love these natural connections between art and our environment!
Gamify
Embrace Your Inner Leaf Detective
Ever find yourself on a nature walk and want to know what you are looking at? Download the APP PictureThis. This amazing “botanist in your pocket” can identify over 1,000,000 plants. Just hold your smartphone up to the leaf and voilà!
Play Bingo!
Check out this fun Autumn Leaves Bingo game. Instant download for $2 on Etsy.
Find Re-leaf with O’Keeffe
We all know about Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous flower paintings. Did you know O’Keeffe loved herself some leaves?
O’Keeffe loved to get up close and personal with her leaves, creating leaf portraits if you will. I got to know two beautiful O’Keeffe leaf paintings that are in The Phillips Collection art museum where I was the Director of Education for many years.
I invite you to take a visual journey exploring these two artworks, Pattern of Leaves, 1923 and Large Dark Red Leaves on White, 1925, both oil on canvas.
Like her flower paintings, O’Keeffe wanted you to really look at the character of each leaf — from its shapes, lines, colors, and textures to the feelings they might evoke in you. Using your new-leaf-eyes, try these art + well looking prompts:
Compare the shapes of the leaves in the two paintings. Allow your eyes to run along their margins. Do the shapes evoke the same mood?
Direct your gaze to the autumnal colors. While both feature hues of red, brown, and white, does O'Keeffe use these colors in the same manner? What is the effect?
Consider how O'Keeffe arranged the leaves and the space surrounding them. Notice how she zooms in by cropping the leaf shapes.
How did O’Keeffe orient the leaves in each painting? In straight vertical alignment with the canvas? Or on a diagonal? How does that impact your reaction to each artwork?
Take Sage Advice from an Autumn Leaf
With my new lived, leaf-sperience, I’ve channeled this seasoned support from our fall foliage. Hope you enjoy!
Holding you in love and light,
Suzanne Wright Life Coaching
Founder, Art Well 4 Life