Design Focus Friday – Line

 I’ve been out looking for line this week. Horizontal lines…

 Diagonal lines…

 Curved lines…

 Horizontal and diagonal lines combined…

 Organic lines…

 I love the lines of the cat tails in this photo…

 My favorite kind of lines…

 Here’s a piece a did a while ago based on a tree stump which uses line…

 Radiating lines…

 Love the lines of shadows between the rocks…

 More shadow lines…

And then the lines of the aspen which are so dramatic after they’ve lost their leaves.

What lines have you found? Let me know!

Tree Page from Cobi

 Look at all the wonderful things that I received from Cobi in the Netherlands yesterday!

 Here’s my tree page. She made the tree with puff paint.

 Here’s a close up of the texture in the puff paint which is wonderful. I love the colors she chose.

Here’s the back – she’s called the page “Summer is Over” after a song that she wrote out for me in the top photo. Thanks so much Cobi!

What I’ve Been Up to This Weekend

 On Friday, my local fiber group met at my house. We talked about line and did an exploratory marks exercise. Using a variety of objects, we used walnut ink to make various lines. The point was to try and make as many different kinds of line as possible.

 This is the box of “tools” that we used to make our lines.

 Here’s the group busy nuno felting with their sanders. None of them had nuno felted before so I was kept busy helping out. I didn’t make anything but they all made scarves. Sadly, I didn’t manage to get any other photos. But a good time was had by all.

 Here are some cards that I made with the marbled paper that I made last month.

I think I’ll add some more to these but I had them cut to the right size so I glued them on to the cards.

 And a few more.

 This is the other thing I’ve been doing. Stocking up on cat toys. Need to have them ready for all those Christmas shoppers.

 All nice and fuzzy in bright colors!

I made a flat piece of felt and added silk noil on the top. I’m going to be making Christmas ornaments and presents out of this so more on this later. It was really hard to get a decent photo and this one is still pretty blurry. Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Design Focus Friday – Line

The first element of design that we’re going to play with is line. There are many different types of line – horizontal, vertical, diagonal, dotted, jagged, thick, thin, wavy, straight, long, short – the list could go on indefinitely. How many different types of line can you find? Take photos of as many of the lines as you can that you see during your day. Now go through the photos. Which of the lines do you like better and why? How can you use these lines in your work? How can you use them to organize? Texturize? Guide the eye? Provide movement?

Be aware of what the shape of lines can convey. Sharp edges could indicate tension, crispness, hardness, formality, or high tech. Soft edges and curves may be softer, flowing, more casual, or more personal. Even small changes in line thickness, endings, or shape changes can alter the look and feel of a design. Try drawing sets of patterns using only black or white lines that illustrate static, dynamic, or random line patterns. Experiment with line width, spacing, and using horizontal, vertical, curved, and even diagonal lines.

How can you use line in a composition to make it more active? Or still? What direction of line conveys more action? Or serenity? What emotions can you evoke with line alone? What does changing the weight of the line do to your composition? Or changing the texture of the line?

Try thinking about and using line in your work this month. I’d love to see what you come up with so do leave a comment. I’ll post a link to show everyone else what you’ve created.