Love is in the air grab it and spread it. diyhub contest love is in the air. Painting on a Ficus religiosa leaf skeleton.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Today, I am sharing my second entry for the monthly contest "Love is in the Air". I want to share a unique Indian technique of drawing on home-dried Pipal leaves, The pipal tree has heart-shaped leaves that are connected with heart. In Ayurveda and Indian culture, this tree is very important. Goutam Buddha attained enlightenment while he was meditating under this tree. The Pipal tree has many medicinal uses for over 50 human health problems, and it can be used as a heart tonic for various heart issues.

First, I will show you how I treated this leaf.

First, I'll show you how I treated this leaf. I soaked the fresh leaf in water for around 3-4 days, until it had become almost rotten. Then, I used a toothbrush to rub out the green tissue from the leaf.

As I did this, the leaf slowly became clearer. I used water to clean the epidermis, spongy mesophyll, palisade mesophyll, and cuticles. I am glad still i remember my medical school lessons.

This is clearing and we can see all the veins of the leaf.

it is almost clear but very delicate and gets torn easily.
It needs to dry for a few days. And all remaining loose matter will fall off automatically.

Here I used material
Dried leaf skeleton.
drawing paper
pencil and eraser
watercolor
brush no. 14 and no.3
black pen
masking type

Started with a center line and an appropriate mark for the leaf.

Made sketch on the paper.

Fixed leaf on the drawing using masking type.

Point marks using a black pen.

Started painting outlines around the hands and a heart using an orange-gold color.

Used silver acryl for painting hands. (I tried with skin color but wasn't satisfied I have only this silver acryl)

Hands are ready.

Red watercolor for the heart after I used some white to make it lighter.

Used fine brush and black color to make the outlines of fingers and hands.

After removing the masking type a little touch-up around the edges.

almost finished.

Cut the shape of the leaf and fixed it on a white background.
![20240226_162515.jpg](
Love is in the air! grab it and spread it!
thank you for stopping by.