Leave me the leaf

Of course I drag my arty supplies everywhere: the watercolors, the acrylics, the crayons, the water-soluble pencils, the inks, the papers. . . . And of course I only have time to scribble.

I found a leaf at my campsite at Blue Mound State Park that I first drew at breakfast and then added some watercolor. Later in the day I added more layers of color. Then even later I made it worse and added crayon and started on the uncomfortable background. At one point this leaf looked semi-realistic but I don't want realistic. Why do realism? I can see realism anytime. I want my scribble paintings to reflect how I'm feeling then -- anxious, calm, happy, confused, crabby, irritated, amazed, bored. . .  I wanted to capture the colors of the leaf in the shape.

What did I learn/practice here? Hmmm. Colors and how they blend around. Layers of color light to dark which is different than they acrylic way of dark to light. Crayon/soft pastel with water color as a resist. I like the colors. Still trying to figure out backgrounds and how to make the background not overwhelm main point.