Secrets of the Mona Leafa

While doing my solo art show in Sandy, there was some revived interest in my Mona Leafa artwork. This is probably my most “temporary” project that has become enduringly popular. When I made the piece a few years ago, I wrote a booklet about the process I had gone through to create it, and I figured I might as well re-publish it on my blog. Meet the Mona Leafa:

Once upon a time there was a forest.  The wind passed through the tree-tops, and pine needles and seed cones fell to the ground. A strong gust sent a few sections of branch tumbling down. Bits of bark and moss dropped off the tree-trunks. Autumn came, and old leaves drifted on the breeze to rest on the cushion of forest debris. The wind stirred and shifted everything together.

One day I was walking by when my eyes were drawn to a particular pile of debris half-hidden in the shade of the trees. Something about it seemed familiar. I came closer and gasped when I recognized the image staring up at me. I was filled with wonder and delight. The forces of Nature had accidentally re-created one of the world’s best-known pieces of art.

Okay, here’s what really happened.

One morning in fall 2010, I was taking some quiet time to read the Bible and talk to God. A pressing thought in my mind was the need to plan artwork for the upcoming Wy’east Artisans Guild show. I asked God for ideas, since the theme—“Patterns in Nature”—had not yet inspired me.

I stared out at the cloudy sky and dull-colored landscape. Thoughts came.

Nature…

Patterns…

The wind is blowing…

Patterns…

Pine needles blown around, falling in…

Patterns.

What are the chances of pine needles landing in a beautiful pattern?

What if they formed a picture?

And then it came.

The Mona Lisa made out of forest debris.

I soon set to work, filling a bag with “art supplies” from the woods. I chose a sheltered spot near the house (not a forest, but there were trees over it) to create the strangest piece of artwork I had ever attempted.

As I laid out the foundational pieces, I realized that this idea had come at the perfect time. Autumn leaves were the very best thing to make Mona’s skin, and the cool, dry weather helped preserve her. For two weeks, I spent an hour or more per day trimming, pressing, and nudging Mona Leafa into shape, without adhesives. I took pictures constantly with a digital camera, tracking my progress and seeing how photogenic Mona was. When I wasn’t working on her, I carefully covered her with plastic and cardboard.

The hardest section, by far, was her face, and the hardest bit of that was her famously enigmatic smile.

It was physically and mentally excruciating, crouching over her, delicately prodding bits of leaf and twig to convey human emotion. Looking back, I can now laugh over the contortions Mona’s face went through.

At last, the project looked complete, and I took the official photo. I planned to call her “A Masterpiece, Naturally”, but my family dubbed her “Mona Leafa”, and it stuck, so I used both names for the show.

Throughout the process of creating Mona Leafa, I began to see her as a question.

She was made out of natural materials, things you would expect to find together on the forest floor. But would anyone who saw her believe she was formed by accident?

The original Mona Lisa

Would anyone believe the Mona Lisa painting was the result of unintentional paint splatters?

Self-portrait by Da'Vinci

Would someone believe that the great artist Leonardo Da’Vinci was the product of a random combination of chemicals?

I’m young, and there are a lot of things I don’t know. But when I look around at the wonders of this world…a universe vast beyond reckoning, details so intricate I could study them for a hundred lifetimes…I see evidence of the Master Artist, as surely as anyone looking at the Mona Leafa sees my handiwork.

Time and decay soon took their toll on the Mona Leafa.

Her colors faded, and she became nothing but a lumpy pile of mulch. You couldn’t find her now, even if you were looking for her.

But the One who created this world, who sets galaxies spinning and guides an artist’s hands, is eternal.

Jesus Christ.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Colossians 1:15-17