Mariposa Lily

Posted on June 27, 2014 by ruthlane under Sketching

I had planned on posting quite a few photos of Montana wildflowers but my internet connection isn’t working well. But I managed to upload 2 photos. My sister has been visiting and she wanted to find as many different Montana wildflowers and take photos of them. So we have been searching all week for different wildflowers. I haven’t created much this week but I did manage one sketch.

This is a Mariposa Lily. They are scattered throughout the woods and I actually see many of these each morning when I walk the dogs.

I hadn’t really looked at these flowers closely before and it was fun to do a sketch and then add some water color pencils. I always see things in much more detail when I’m sketching and it’s nice to slow down and look closely. Have a great weekend!

Circles Sketchbook All Filled Up

Posted on April 18, 2014 by ruthlane under mixed media, Sketching

I have been adding a few more pages to my circles sketchbook over the last month or so. The notebook is completely filled up so I guess it’s finished. I’m sure I will keep using the circle in designing as I have really enjoyed working in the sketchbook.

These three pages were some of the pages that I printed with breakdown screen printing. I just added a bit of silver with a silver Sharpie pen.

This one is done with various sized black pens.

I doodled on the rainbow-colored paper and then cut it into a variety of sizes of circles. Then I glued it down to the yellow page.

This one was cutting the circle up into wedges and then filling the wedges with Zentangles. I added the black lines on top to add a little interest to the page.

These circles are done with white, black and grey. All of the designs don’t really seem to go together but I like the individual designs.

This one was an experiment with wet paper that I pushed on to a textured rolling pin. Then I painted it to go with the page. I’m not sure how I got the yellow “explosion” on the right side of the page but I didn’t do it on purpose.

Here’s a spiraling star done in ink on a painted page.

This is another of my screen printed pages. I glued down the trilobite that was screen printed on paper towel and then added walnut ink. It’s not really a circle but I put it in anyways.

And this is the cover. It is done with metallic Sharpie pens on black paper. I had never tried the metallic Sharpies and I really like them. They come in a set of three with silver, bronze and gold. It’s amazing how many different designs you can develop just starting with the concept of a circle.

Circle Sketchbook

Posted on March 7, 2014 by ruthlane under Sketching

I have been busy with company from Chicago all week and haven’t had much time for creative pursuits. I’m still working in my circle sketchbook in spare moments. These photos are from pages that I have completed over the last month or so.

This is the most recent page that I finished. It is actually two pages with the orange painted page being a “frame” and the page behind a doodled radiating design.

Here’s the entire doodle page.

This is another radiating design done with black pen and colored pencil.

This is two pages as well. The circle design is on one page and the painted green background is a separate page.

This one was done with black pen and Inktense pencils which I then painted with water to spread the colors.

The design here is based on a tattoo design that I found on the web. It is done with black pen and colored pencil. All of these are on paper that is painted beforehand with acrylic ink or paint.

Now we’re moving back into some black and white designs. This is using black pens of various sizes and just doing loose swirls. I am really enjoying working in my sketchbook and circles is such a broad theme, it’s amazing the different ideas that come to mind with circles as your theme.

Happy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2013 by ruthlane under journals, Sketching

I am taking an online sketchbook course, Designing with Circles and this is my first page in my book. Just playing around a bit with the pages that I painted earlier with walnut ink. I added some circles of red paper and then some drew some circles with a template and an Inktense pencil. I then added a bit of water to the ink tense pencil for a halo effect around the circles. More circles to come!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and a healthy and happy 2014!

The Kantha Revolution

Posted on August 30, 2013 by ruthlane under hand stitching, journals, Kantha, level 2 stitch class, Sketching

I spent most of the morning cleaning up my studio. I forgot to take any photos until half way through the process as it was quite a mess.

Here it is after cleaning half of it up.

And after getting it mostly straightened out. My color notebooks are waiting to be sent off for review and the box holds all the pieces that will be hung at the Waterlilies exhibition next week. I’m excited to see my class mates again. They will be here next week for the opening of the show on Thursday. If you are in the Whitefish area, stop by The Purple Pomegranate on Thursday from 6-9 pm. I’ll post photos here next week to show you the exhibition.

Here is “The Kantha Revolution”. I got all three pieces matted today. You can barely see the matte as it is only 1/4″ bigger than the pieces.

I think they look good as a triptych so I will probably donate all three pieces for the auction.

The background was done a long time ago when we played with soy was with my local surface design group.

I have gradually added the Kantha stitching over the last couple of years. This is the only one that has satin stitch added as well. Which one is your favorite?

I also added a sketch of a seed head to one of my previously painted pages in my sketch book. The photo that I used to sketch from showed the seed head in green, but I liked it in brown on this background. Thanks for stopping by and if you’re in the US, I hope you have a good Labor Day weekend.

Ruth Lane Art

Experimenting with Arts Endless Possibilities

Category Archives: Sketching