Leaves and Bird Collage - Finished!

A few little touches finished the piece.

First, I added color washes to the background, using thinned fluid acrylics.

I added a minimal background to the bird drawing by adding a bit of the collaged tissue paper behind the bird.  I chose a piece of tissue with a very light green.  To add it only behind the bird, I put the adhesive all around the bird, bringing it right up to the edge, but not over, the bird.  I then pressed the tissue paper in place.  When the adhesive dried, I could cut away the part over the bird.  I deepened the green around the edge, and added some line work suggesting leaves and twining branches sort of arranged like a crown.  I then added another layer of adhesive - Liquitex Mat Gel - around the bird and sprinkled small snippets of silver foil over it.

As for the real background I stenciled the leaves with copper acrylic paint, then added the tiny light turquoise dots.

Finally, I glued the bird onto a piece of corrugated cardboard then glued the cardboard in place.  This raises the bird a bit from the surface.