visual journaling

I have just started a new workshop at the Strathmore website. It's called "Sketching with Watercolor," and the instructor is Cathy Johnson She is a writer, artist, naturalist, and teacher.
It's fun to work with watercolor. It is delightfully wet and a little messy. But that's OK. The results are so interesting that the cleanup time is well worth it. My first assignment was to create a page with a watercolor painting and some words. I am still very much enamored with those fall leaves that I had collected back in October. I had preserved some of them in various books. Of course, I managed to forget where the leaves were stored. Wasn't I surprised when I opened up a book to read and a batch of leaves poured out. Some were old and merely crumbled, while others maintained their shapes nicely.
So I had fun with paint and with words. I was happy to combine a transparent watercolor painting with a haiku. What I like about a haiku is that, because it can be no longer than 17 syllables, it is necessary to use words sparingly. Use only the words that paint the best picture and get the best effect.
Well, here it is:

A few leaves from my collection, combined with a haiku, for a visual journal page.