Sketching Workshop at the Redmond Library June 1st

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I had an opportunity to lead a 3-hour workshop, “Keep a Daily Sketch Journal,” at the Redmond Library yesterday. I had 15 students and there were 18 people on the waitlist! It’s nice to know that there are lots of people in the community who are interesting in sketching more or at least learning about it. I had a great time and it was very satisfying because the students all seemed to get something out of it. I loved seeing the variety of things people chose to draw from their day. I will do another sketching workshop there in the fall on nature journaling. The date’s not been set yet but the library did promote through Nextdoor.

Students' Work!

I have been teaching a six-week travel journaling in ink and watercolor workshop recently but there’s been two weeks off unexpectedly because of lots and lots of snow which is not the usual for this area. Roads are finally clear and the weather more mild so we were able to meet up again. It’s nice to be able to get back to the regular routine again! Here are some examples of what my students are working on. It is so interesting seeing what people come up with.

Sea Monsters and Maps!

Drawing Maps

and Sea Monsters!

Sea monsters aren’t part of every map, but they’re a lot of fun to play with! See if you can add one or more to your maps with me in my drawing and sketching map workshop starting March 6th at Cloud 9 in Bothell, WA. This 6-week workshop will explore different types of illustrative and figurative maps that we can draw. Traditional map elements will be addressed as well as making the maps personal and informative. One of the projects will be to draw a place that you know well and are connected to. Illustrating a map tells a story of a place that’s important to you. It’s a thing of beauty but also conveys useful information. I will be using a sketchbook with ink and watercolor but you can use the materials you are comfortable with. Considerations of map design will be addressed and discussed throughout the workshop with plenty of examples of illustrated maps.

All skill levels welcome.

When: Wednesdays, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm March 6th - April 10th, 2019 (6 weeks)
Where: Cloud 9 Art School, 18414 103 Ave NE, Bothell, WA 98011
Contact: www.anyatoomre.com/workshops for more information and to register.

Travel Sketch from Porto, Portugal in Progress

I love to travel and I love to draw and paint in travel journals. I work on them while on trips, but mostly after the fact using photographs that I took during the trip and bits of ephemera that I brought back. This is an in-progress sketch of the first outside tiled church I saw in Porto, Portugal this past summer. It’s from the Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina (Chapel of Souls on Rua Santa Catarina).

If keeping a travel journal is something that you’d like to try, please join me for my next offering of Creating an Ink and Watercolor Travel Journal 6-week workshop on Monday evenings that starts on January 7th, 2019. See my workshops for more information and to register.

Students' work from my Playing with Food in Your Sketchbook Workshop

My 6-week workshop of Playing with Your Food in a Sketchbook with ink and watercolor has begun and it has been so much fun so far! The first week was working with fresh produce and the images are some examples of my students’ work so far. They’ve done some fabulous work and I’m inspired to try drawing some of what they’ve done. This past week’s lesson was about drinks and I’ve given out the assignment to go to a coffeeshop and draw their drink. It’ll be fun to see what they draw.

I will be offering this course again in January 2019. Go to my workshop page and find more information and register there.

Latest Catalog Out for Cloud 9 Art School

Lucky me that I get to work at Cloud 9 and lucky students that have so many choices of art classes to take from so many talented teaching artists! The newest catalog from Cloud 9 is available here. Check it out or go to the school web site directly.  I will be teaching two six week workshops: in September "Create an Ink and Watercolor Travel Journal" and in October "Playing with Your Food in a Sketchbook." Come join me!

Urban Sketching Workshop in Bothell, WA - Part Three

The second day of the Urban Sketchers Workshop in Bothell was a beautiful sunny one. Great weather for being outside to sketch. Gabi started with watercolor demos in the classroom at Cloud 9 Art School but soon we headed out and stopped at the Clover Leaf Rebekahs No. 54 House. Some worked on the house and others chose the small house next door to draw for this exercise. The point was to take composition, line, and value and put it all together with watercolor for this sketch.

Putting it all together

First try for the day

Walk-by sketch

Playing with values with only watercolor

Next we had a short 10-15 minute stop at the beaver sculptures in front of the Bothell City Hall. Gabi wanted us to draw them using only watercolor and to get a sense of shape using value. I chose the calculating looking beaver sitting up. My version had him looking a bit evil so I tried it again. They looked much better after they dried.

Then it was on to the next stop at McMenamin's Anderson School Hotel. It was a great building but given where we were - very close to it, it was challenging to draw. Finding a good, safe spot to draw was also an issue. There was a throw down but I missed the picture of it. I was impressed how much people got done on this complicated building in such a short period of time.