Watercolor Redux - An Autumn Leaf Study

I've been playing with my watercolors again!

The watercolor study.

Our front yard is completely carpeted with maple leaves.  I went out, picked up and examined some leaves, looking for color and curl, and finally chose one.

The original leaf.

I sat down with my trusty mechanical pencil and sketched the chosen leaf, then mixed up some watercolors and applied a series of washes over the sketch.  

I'm pretty happy with the result!  

I haven't done any botanicals until now.  I may do some more to see whether this was a fluke.

Plenty of leaves to choose from!