Sketchbook – River Rocks

Posted on September 4, 2015 by ruthlane under sketch book

I finished this page in my sketchbook a while ago but forgot to show you a photo.

This is what it looked like the last time you saw it. I wanted to add more “leafiness” in the green portions.

And here is how I completed it. I used colored pencils to add in the pine branches. Now it looks like an aerial view of a stream here in Montana. We have wonderful colors of rock here.

This was from my recent hike. And these are really more beautiful when they have water on them.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Adding to the Rock Studies

Posted on June 26, 2015 by ruthlane under sketch book

I thought you might like to see the changes I made in the rock studies I showed you last week. I added colored pencil to both. The photo on the left is before and on the right is after.

And here’s a close up.

And then this one is based on the river rocks you see here in Montana.

And a closer look.

I think the orange one is finished. But I think I might add some more “leafiness” to the green areas so that it is an overhead view looking down into a stream.

Experimenting with a New Painting Technique

Posted on June 19, 2015 by ruthlane under sketch book

I found a new technique to try for painting. I have used plastic draped over paint many times before to get a variety of ridges left in the paint. But I never thought to try this technique before. First you cut your plastic into shapes like rocks. I used a 2 mil painters plastic. Then you paint the page with really wet paint. Then place the plastic rock shapes into the wet paint. Let it dry. And this is the result.

These pages were painted first so I was adding a second layer of color. The one above was painted blue and green and I added black paint on top.

This page was a mix of colors but it was fairly light. I added red on top. The darker areas in the background have had further color added with colored pencil. I may add some more colored pencil. And I plan on adding some more details to the blue and green one as well. I had a lot of fun playing with color.

Goodies and Sketchbook Designs

Posted on May 31, 2015 by ruthlane under fibers, gifts, sketch book

I recently posted about Karen Straight from Big Sky Fiber Arts over on the Felting and Fiber Studio site. We do “Meet the Supplier” posts as we find suppliers that have great stuff for fiber artists and felt makers. Karen just happens to live in the same area as I do and she brought me a lovely surprise.

And I was surprised. I had not expected any kind of gift at all. So it was great fun to open it up and see what goodies Karen had given me.

Thank you so much Karen – I can’t wait to try out the wool and ramie. Now to just find a little bit of time to play.

I have been doing a little bit of work in my sketchbook. These are black and white designs based on sketches or photos.

It is fun to crop an image in different ways – you see different ideas for design this way. What have you been working on?

Mexican Inspiration in my Sketchbook

Posted on May 1, 2015 by ruthlane under sketch book

I did take my art supplies and sketchbook with me to Mexico. Since we did a lot of relaxing on the beach, I had time to add some inspiration from my trip.

This zentangle page was done on the airplane ride down.

The tropical flowers were abundant around our condo.

This isn’t necessarily a flower but I saw a lot of these colors.

These little mushroom like structures were all over the beaches. We sat under one of these nearly every day.

I had screen printed this page quite a while ago but I added the deeper green and the “coconuts” one day on the beach. I saw lots of palm trees as well.