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Repeating shapes with Strelitzia Leaves

Written by Sandy Marker

‘Repeating Shapes with Strelitzia Leaves’ was the fun theme for today’s ASTA workshop. Amazing result stemmed from the few the few ideas I presented to the group.

These leaves are very versatile and extra hardy, which can be manipulated in so many ways – cut, sliced, curled, folded, created into angles going in every direction, etc. The limitations of shapes and forms are only imposed by our hesitation and lack of confidence to experiment and push the boundaries of the material. My advice, when in a workshop ‘let your hair down’ and be extra creative, you have the tutor to assist and guide you, so take advantage of this opportunity

To get the leaf into some extraordinary shapes we may need to use some ‘man made’ technical fixtures such as wire, or sticky dots called Zots. I feel there is nothing wrong with using ‘a little’ help as long these cannot be seen by the viewer – you are creating magic so take extra care to hide your method. And keep the viewer wondering

A special thank you to Jorgen for supplying the leaves.