Paper Crafter's Library Spotlight, Stamp Give Away and New Designs!!!

Hello everyone! I have TONS of news for today...

I'm happy to announce that the Paper Crafter's Library has published a company spotlight for Designs by Ryn today :) There will be a little bio about me and some highlights from the Design Team (Shirley, Eleen, Miranda, Karin, Wendy and Anja).

I'll also be giving away 6 stamps from my collection. Raindrops, Climbing Vines and Circle Cluster Set on their blog and Day Lily, Pansies and Raindrops on mine.

Just leave a comment on this post and your name will go into a raffle for the last three stamps. Please make sure that I have a way of contacting you. I will pick the winner next Wednesday and be in touch then if you've won. Please pop by their blog www.papercrafterslibrary.com as well for a chance to win the other three. They'll have guidelines written for their raffle. A big thank you to everyone who has supported my designs so far! This has been a really exciting journey for me :)

Speaking of designs...
After the last release of Water Effects I got a bad case of artist's block. The 3D designs were so well received by you that I was both thrilled and terrified to branch off and do something new. There is always something to get done with business so I busied myself with that side of my brain... For months... I guess you can only bottle creativity for so long. When I finally allowed myself to create a new theme the designs just flew out of me! I finished a whole set from conception to digital cleaning of the images in a week. A set usually takes me about a month! I'm bug-eyed and exhausted but so happy with the results. I rediscovered my first love - line work.

I suppose it would be easier to design the stamps on a computer as vector images but in this way I'm old fashioned. I use fine tip pens and refine my ideas using tracing paper and layers. I have just sent off the images to my manufacturers and now comes the hard part... Waiting for them to arrive...
In the meantime, I thought I would share some pics from the last week. A little sneak peak into what I was up to...

My work table. Looks like a mess of doodles doesn't it?! That's how everything starts. I get the designs out of my head and look at them later to see which ones can be refined further...

I then use tracing paper to refine the designs and add ink... My favourite pens are Micron. They make the smallest tip that I've been able to find - 005.

The finalists get stuck to my wall with painters tape before being scanned and cleaned up for stamp production.

As you can see I did do some stippling again - the same technique I used for the 3D water effects. I often wonder how many dots are in each piece... I tried counting once but that was just ridiculous! I'm betting thousands...
Well that's it for now. I will post cleaner images of the new designs as I get them ready. Hope you enjoyed the sneak peak. Also, a GIANT thanks to Andrea and Michelle for putting together this Spotlight for me. It's always such an honour to be included on their blog :D
Bye for now!
Ryn

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Amanda Southern and Candra

Hello everyone. Hope that your week is off to a good start :) I have another Guest Designer project for you from Amanda Southern. This is a very different style from the colourful art that we've seen from her so far. Apparently Amanda does vintage with just as much skill. In this piece she's used Candra from my moth collection. Love how she's subtly coloured Candra and added white dots along the wings.

It's too bad that moths aren't appreciated as much as butterflies. They come out at night when their lovely colours and patterns can't be seen in detail by our eyes. I designed this collection of stamps after coming across a book at the public library (unfortunately I don't remember the title). It was full of macro images of different species of moths. I fell in love with the all of the variations of antenae, colours and fluffy texture. Below is a screenshot that I took from a Google Images search "colourful moths". If you're ever looking for some interesting colour combos and patterns check them out!

To capture the black and white version in a set of stamps I used a paintbrush to get the fluffy effect and a fine pen for the details. The set below can be found here on my website...

Hope you enjoyed this post :) All my best to you!
Ryn

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Welcoming Anja to the Design Team!

Hello everyone,
Today I am happy to announce that Anja Hardenfels from Germany is joining the Design Team here at Designs by Ryn. I am so honoured to be collaborating with such talented women from around the world. Shirley (Canada), Eileen and Wendy (UK), Miranda and Karin (the Netherlands) and now Anja (Germany). Art really does cross all borders :)
Shirley introduced me to Anja's art a few weeks ago. She had seen a project by Anja using my stamps and liked it so much that she kindly sent me the link. I popped over and was blown away by what I found. Anja incorporates the art of stamping into a style that is fresh and completely her own. Just look at her colouring technique!

 

In this piece: Raindrop Set. Anja's blog post. Stunning colour work on the drops!

 

In this piece: Rising Bubbles and Leafy Branch. Anja's blog post

 

In this piece: Water Droplets 2 and Trickling Water Set. Anja's blog post

 

In this piece: Raindrop Set. Anja's blog post. Great idea to use the drops as earrings.

 

In this piece: Raindrop Set. Anja's blog post

 

In this piece: Water Droplets. Anja's blog post

I sent some stamps to Anja as a Guest Designer but it soon became obvious through her enthusiasm for the stamps, positive and encouraging attitude and of course her consistently beautiful creations that she would make an excellent addition to the Design Team. I think there is a lot of inspiration to be found in her art and I look forward to sharing her take on my stamps with you. Below are her newest pieces using stamps from my line.

 

In this piece: Rising Bubbles. Anja's blog post. Anja drew these dolphins herself!

 

In this piece: Leafy Branch. Anja's blog post. This is a personal favourite of mine. The colours in this scene are so atmospheric. Reminds me of late summer.

 

In this piece: Clown Fish, Starfish Set and Rising Bubbles. Anja's blog post

 

In this piece: Leafy Branch. Anja's blog post. I want to live in this colourful country house!

 

In this piece: Sea Turtle. Anja's blog post. Love how she made one of the turtles female by changing the eye a bit. Just like in the Clown Fish piece above.

 

In this piece: Wanda and Starfish Set. Anja's blog post

What a gallery eh?! hehe, I just caught my self being VERY Canadian - "eh" ;) Last but not least is a photo of the artist and a little bio.

"Hello, my name is Anja. I was born into an artist family already with a colorful brush behind the ear. My parents, grandfather, uncle, aunt and cousins are all studied painters. They make a living as art teachers or as freelance designers. Growing up in this environment I have painted as long I can remember. In 1996, I saw a stamping workshop and it had happened - I decided that I wanted to stamp too! I learned more and more, and soon some stamp producers asked me to design for them. During that time I designed more than 1200 motifs for different stamp companies. Now I lead a stamping forum in Germany. I'm glad to have found Ryn's beautiful stamps because they are so inspiring and I'm happy to be added as a member of the wonderful Design Team."

If inspired by anything you've seen please pop by Anja's blog. I'm sure she would be more than happy to hear from you: www.artefaktotum.blogspot.de

Many thanks for visiting me again :) I so appreciate your continued interest in my stamp collection!
Hugs from afar!
Ryn

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I Love Texture!!!

Good evening from London, Ontario! This is a different sort of post from what I usually do - it has absolutely nothing to do with stamps. Just a little inspiration to share with all of you texture lovers out there ;)

I needed to clear my head this evening and set out on my bike. The lighting was just beautiful along the path by the Thames River (Yes, to all of you in the UK there is a London in Canada and we also have a Thames River. Lol). I ended up catching my breath on a concrete lookout point about 20 feet above the river. It's been fenced off multiple times for safety but people keep cutting the fence and sneaking through to dangle their feet off of the edge. They've also covered the spot in layer upon layer of spray paint. As a whole it was a mess but the details were beautiful! I took out my phone and snapped some shots. I hope you enjoy looking through what I found...

I'm thinking mixed media backgrounds now. Did you get any ideas? Bye for now :)

 

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