Tea leaves....there's something mysterious and spiritual about tea leaves. Have you ever had your tea leaves read? I did on a couple of occasions and I was well.....surprised! I remember one afternoon having my tea leaves read by a Cowichan Native Indian woman out on Granville Island in British Columbia. I had just finished one of my classes at the Emily Carr School of Art and thought it would be a relaxing thing to do. I was curious and my curiosity found me looking down at the bottom of my tea cup after having enjoyed a great cup of tea and listening to this wise woman tell me about her interesting experiences living on Salt Spring Island (one of the gulf islands along the BC coast). I couldn't make out the shapes at the bottom of that tea cup, but the tea reader saw all kinds and started pointing them out to me. The star, the bell, the cross and so on. It was a fun thing to do after a morning filled with classes. I must say I did enjoy my cup of tea and walked away feeling relaxed.....like I had done something good for myself.
When I got home, I decided to look up the different varieties of teas and where they come from....green tea, chai tea, orange pekoe, raspberry zinger, black tea, cocoa leaf tea, tea from ceylon, tea from India, tea from China and sooooo many different teas....herbal teas, fruit teas and more teas. All teas come from leaves at some point even the fruit teas! I began wondering what it would be like to walk through a field of fresh tea leaves growing....breathing in their scent and drinking in all their shades of greens and yellows. I picked up my sketch book and began drawing and playing around with the shapes of leaves. This propelled me over to my easel and I began to paint leaves but not just like leaves. I began to layer washes and washes of greens - hookers green, chrome oxide green, veridian green, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and naples yellow....just kept putting the washes on and the deeper and more vibrant the leaves became.
Take a peek at my tea leaves below! What do you think?
When I got home, I decided to look up the different varieties of teas and where they come from....green tea, chai tea, orange pekoe, raspberry zinger, black tea, cocoa leaf tea, tea from ceylon, tea from India, tea from China and sooooo many different teas....herbal teas, fruit teas and more teas. All teas come from leaves at some point even the fruit teas! I began wondering what it would be like to walk through a field of fresh tea leaves growing....breathing in their scent and drinking in all their shades of greens and yellows. I picked up my sketch book and began drawing and playing around with the shapes of leaves. This propelled me over to my easel and I began to paint leaves but not just like leaves. I began to layer washes and washes of greens - hookers green, chrome oxide green, veridian green, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and naples yellow....just kept putting the washes on and the deeper and more vibrant the leaves became.
Take a peek at my tea leaves below! What do you think?
Tea Leaves - acrylic on canvas -- SOLD
More tea leaves.... Photo 2 of Tea Leaves painting:
