I wrote previously about an experiment I did using leaves to make a collage. If you missed it, you can find the post here.

A year later, I know you’re all wondering, “How is the Red Panda leaf collage looking now?”

Well, actually not too bad. Most of the piece still looks pretty much the same as it did when it was first made. The only noticeable change is that the color of the yellow leaves in the background has faded. While that’s not ideal from an aging/longevity standpoint, aesthetically I’m not exactly crushed. I didn’t really like the super bright yellow color it had originally, so this more muted yellow is a bit nicer to look at.

I suspect it’s at least partially due to the yellow leaves being a bit ‘fresher’ than the brown ones, so the color wasn’t as stable. This, of course, begs the question: How will red, orange, or green leaves hold up over time?

This is definitely something that needs looking into! So, I created another experimental test piece, using red and green leaves, to see how those colors will age.

Here we have a red crab from the Galapagos islands. I thought he was pretty cool-looking and he had the right colors, so he was my test victim. I suspect I should have used a subject that had larger areas of red, like a cardinal, but oh, well!  I’ll keep you posted on how this one ages as well.

If you’re curious about the materials I used (other than leaves!), here’s a list:

*Canvas Board

*Golden Acrylic Soft Gel Medium

*Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Satin Varnish

I’m thinking of trying out flowers as a medium for collage as well. What do you think?

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