I didn’t have much time this week to focus on line. I was a bit busy with a funeral, Thanksgiving and trying to get started on making Christmas gifts. So I thought what I’d do today to focus on line is take a look back at some of my previous work and see how I’ve used line in the past.
This piece is felted and was based on a photo I took of the moon behind our house. I wanted to show the brightness of the moon and the darkness/blackness of the branches. So the only line really is the branches. My favorite kind of line – the organic type.
This piece was done for an assignment in my machine embroidery class. It is all about line. And again, organic line. I seem to avoid those straight lines. In this piece, the focus seems to be the overlapping lines in the center. It is too centered and I really like either edge better. Perhaps some lines going in a more diagonal direction would have helped?
This is another assignment piece in machine embroidery. Besides the out line of the fish and the grass, I don’t see a lot of use of line. Although the blue background has some light lines, I think the piece might have been enhanced a bit more if I had emphasized those lines in blue with more stitching. What do you think?
This is a piece that I worked on for a long time. I didn’t really plan much with this piece and it kind of kept changing as it went along. I used line in the stitching of the horse. Perhaps I could have used the sight line in Crazy Horse’s eyes to achieve more of an implied line. As it is, he is looking straight across and out of the piece. Perhaps it would have been more effective to have him looking upward at the hawk.
This piece is about trees and bark. I used line in the depictions of the tree trunks and in the bark itself. The pine lichen also adds line. Again, I tend toward the organic.
This piece was not planned well either. I started with oil paint sticks for the background. But I left a crease in the middle that looked awful when I was done. So I used the line of the branch to cover that area. Actually this turned out much better than I had hoped it would originally. Perhaps the moral is to just keep going and use the mistake as a cue to what to do next!
This is a machine embroidered piece that I spent a lot of time on and did do quite a bit of pre-planning. I didn’t use a lot of line in this piece. Although the various horizon type lines of grass and trees provide line. I think it would have been more effective if the lines of grass and stems in the forefront were more emphasized.
This is another piece about bark and how it relates to topographical maps. It uses a lot of line mainly achieved through value changes. Again, those organic lines showing up. Perhaps I should try more pieces with straight lines and geometrical shapes to push myself out of my comfort zone? Or add just one or two straight lines to an allover organic pattern? What have you been doing with line?
Ruth Lane Art 
Love seeing your pieces and how you used different techniques for texture. I need to decide on some ideas that I can practice with.Debbie
These are all just fabulous Ruth. I love the 'pink line', and probably feel the last 'bark' image is my favourite. Thank you very much for these inspirational photographs.
I am also a big fan of organic shapes and flowing lines.So sorry to hear about the funeral.
I've been fascinated with tree roots, branches and bark since I was a kid…something very relaxing about looking at it . Thanks for sharing your lovely work .
lovely work .Thanks for sharing
All your pieces are fabulous Ruth and great to look back on. It is always lovely to try new things though – especially when you have nothing to prove, only to enjoy!