Drawing Amsterdam Dailies, Days 101-150 Video Now Available

I’ve just finished my latest video showing the progression in my Amsterdam travel sketchbook over the days 101-150. Some days it doesn’t seem like much, but 30 minutes a day really does add up. Take a look! Let me know which images you like best and what you think!

One of my favorites from this video is the spread from the outside of the Rainarai restaurant. It was one of the first time that I used gouache and watercolor in addition to the black ink on my drawings. The color really makes the drawing pop.

Architecture and food on the same page! How could I not like this? Ink, watercolor and gouache.

I put together videos from every 50 days of progress. If you want to see the days as they are done, you can see them on my Dailies page or you can subscribe to @anya_toomre on Instagram. The videos can be found on my Dailies Collections page or on my YouTube channel.

What Collections do You Keep?

I started a new sketchbook workshop this week called, “Drawing Collections.” It is a sketching workshop that has so much possibility in it that I will run it again soon in the future. What do you think of when you imagine collections?

It could be a stamp collection or all of your record albums. It could be coins, bird figurines, feathers, shells, necklaces, shoes, lipstick, plants, tools, French books, maps, tea towels, heirloom tomato seeds, or spices.

It can be things that squeak, things beginning with the letters b, things that shine, or things that get rusty.

It can be any sort of thing that you want to group together with something else with a thread that has meaning only to you.

It can be a collection of things you have or things you don’t.

Go to a museum. What are the top five things you would want to have? What five things might have been curated in by mistake?

What are scenes from your favorite book, or top scenes from favorite books? How do you imagine the characters looking from the novel you’re reading now, or look up photographs to draw some of the people referred to in a non-fiction book.

Draw the weather, draw words, draw how music sounds to you, draw emotions. Can you draw a smell?

The great thing about drawing a collection is that it doesn’t have to have meaning to anyone else but you. The drawings don’t have to be realistic or fantastically rendered. As long as it has meaning to you, it’s good.

I do this kind of thing because I like to draw, but this kind of creative exercise can be done equally well with words or in your imagination. I like to record things that are interesting to me in some way or that I have an association with. Sometimes I draw things to record memories. Sometimes, I draw to then let go of things.

What kind of collections have meaning for you? What are you grouping together?

Drawing Memories

My childhood stuffed animals (ink & watercolor)

I’m in the midst of packing this week before a move. This ironically involves a certain amount of unpacking from cupboards and drawers and sorting before the packing into boxes. And then the move. And then the unpacking to put things away. Really though, that involves repacking on new shelves and in new spaces. So much packing!

I have come across all sorts of treasures during this period.

I have touched all my fabric and winnowed what no longer appeals and have ideas of things to do with some of what I have.

I have looked at many, many recipes reminding me of so much good food yet to be made and enjoyed.

I’ve gone through books. Books, books, books. So many topics.

I came across baby sweaters I made for the kiddos. I made them elaborate because I could.

And I found my photos, in so many nooks and crannies. So many photos. Photos of my kids. Photos of my Moroccan cats. Photos from Japan. My grandmothers’ photos (yes, both of theirs). And photos from my childhood.

I see that little person and recognize me but don’t really remember what I was like. It’s a funny thing how memories work. Children can be pretty intense about things but later on don’t remember much.

When I was seven, my family spent the summer in London. One particular part about the trip I’ve always remembered. I had a stuffed animal, my yellow rabbit, who was extremely well-loved. Its fur was well plucked and the wire had been pulled from its ears. According to some family members, it was time for a replacement.

I remember going to toy sections in various stores in London with my grandmother and eventually we came away with a large bright pink mouse. It was not my yellow bunny though. It was so not my bunny. There are photos of me with the pink mouse. I don’t know where the rabbit was during the trip.

For years I’ve tried remembering what my rabbit looked like but couldn’t. While sorting this week, though, I was really pleased to find a photo of my rabbit and mouse together.

What to do but to draw a sketch of the two? Photos are nice, but drawing and writing about memories make the important ones stick. And now if the one photo from 1971 gets lost, I have the memory and the drawing.

Have you done this? Do you have any stories from the past or your childhood that you’ve recaptured in words or drawings? What’s your story?

And as a reminder for saving some of today’s memories, have you backed up your computer recently?

Trying Something New

Trying out a drawing on black paper as part of my Drawing Amsterdam Dailies

How does trying something new for you work? Can you jump into it immediately or does it take a certain amount of convincing yourself to try the new thing, habit or technique?

I’ve become more aware recently of how often I put up resistance to actually doing new things. I may like the idea, but because I’m new at it and maybe (probably) will make mistakes, I start resisting doing that new thing.

My thought process tends to go: “It’s exciting! I like it! It’s interesting! It’s new. Oh… how about I do something more familiar?” And then I don’t do that new, interesting thing. Does that sound familiar?

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a 30 minutes-a-day daily project drawing my way through photos of a trip to Amsterdam. I’m using a sketchbook with toned paper which is all new to me. I’ve found it interesting but not too hard to use the grey and tan paper.

What I want to do more of and find myself NOT doing, is working with the black paper.

Why?

Because it’s much more of a challenge and I’m not used to it.

I know I want to work with the black paper more. I know it’ll get easier if I practice. I’ve found, though, I’m not quite committed yet to making mistakes. I cajole and persuade myself that it’s only a page and only one picture. It seems like a lot of effort to get in the practice.

I did show up to do it these past few days. I like the result so far. I wonder how long it will take before I don’t think about the effort to work with black paper the next time.

Does this kind of thing happen to you? How do you approach working on new things?

A Book Cover!

My original drawing and the Wandering Words book cover from it

I’m excited to share the news - a commissioned drawing of mine is on a book cover!! What a thrill! It’s the first time I’ve had that kind of opportunity.

What an honor to have been asked by Gail Boenning to do the cover illustration for her book, Wandering Words, A Walk from A to Z! It was such a pleasure to work with her doing this drawing. It was a generous and gentle introduction into the world of cover illustration.

Gail’s dog Henrietta is on the cover. As a special connection to this project, I also have had a black dog named Henrietta in my life. She was our family dog growing up. It’s an uncommon name and I’m reminded of her each time I talk with Gail and see the book.

It’s pretty exciting to see the final result! I got my copy of Wandering Words last week.

Her book is now available from Amazon.

What moments of excitement do you have to share? I'd love to celebrate with you.

Creative Inspiration from a Sentence

This past week, I spent some time reading Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. It’s a lovely book and I do recommend reading it. It’s kind of nice reading a book about seasonal tendencies as spring is beginning to emerge and make its presence felt. It’s good to say good bye to the short, dark days and grey, cold, wet weather of winter.

I was in a section of the book where there was a lot of talk about life in Finland with its sauna culture. I came across a sentence that struck and diverted me:

“And yet hard-core users of the global hammam seem to admire the sauna over all else, as the mother of all hot rooms.”

The words of the sentence were not deep nor was it something that solved something for me. The choice of one word, however, hammam (a type steam bath or a place of public bathing) made all the difference. It’s a word I haven’t heard or used in over 25 years, but which sparked so many memories and connections. I stopped reading the story while my mind went in a variety of different directions.

I thought about a hammam I went to in Morocco, a sauna in Finland, hot springs in Japan. How public baths and bathing are so not part of American culture. How the new-to-Japan teachers and I were really puzzled that there would be a company-wide event at a bath house in Japan. How is this fun or even considered a thing? (I was younger and new to life in Japan).

I thought about traveling again, post-Covid-19 vaccine. Where do I want to go? And I thought about travel journals and wanting to keep more of them.

I though about the fun and exploration in traveling. It reminded me of cultural differences and new things to learn about. All from one sentence that held one particular word.

This is the second time in a few weeks that I ever remember being inspired and fully entranced by a random sentence in a book. I’ve decided to keep a small notebook and write down when I come across other sentences like this.

Where’s a place you’ve had unexpected inspiration from?

Abstract Canapés

Abstract Canapé - Ingredient prompts were the colors - blue, tangerine and flamingo pink, the shapes - triangle, hexagon and circle and the numbers - 3, 6, and 9.

Over the past weekend, friends came together to celebrate the start of online creative gallery, Regeneration 2021, and the opening of our first online show, Gather. It is a beautiful and unique space. Do take a look. There are podcasts next to poetry. Written stories next to painted ones. There is music, photography, textiles and more.

Many of the pieces displayed were started as dailies from a 100-day challenge in The Creative’s Workshop and then in 100 more days, and in 100 more. This is the first time to see finished pieces side by side and to show off the creative work of the community as a whole both to us, the group members, but also to the greater world outside.

With any gathering and celebration, there was also the invitation to have food and drink to enjoy. This being an online affair, the idea was introduced that we all come up with our own cocktails and canapés and share our thinking and experience of flavors with the others.

I have been in bed with my foot elevated for the past week due to voluntary surgery, so acquiring and cooking was not going to happen for me. I had an idea of what I could do instead with my little sketchbook.

Given that a canapé is: a small piece of bread or pastry with a savory topping, I thought I’d make an abstract visual variation or two, by starting off designs with the ingredients of three colors, shapes and numbers chosen by the group.

My intention initially was to only use those nine elements on my page, but I soon turned them into a launching off point. I tried to include them if I could, but it was no big deal if I did or didn’t use them. The idea was to have fun making my canapés while listening to stories told while we were gathered.

I really enjoyed the creative process in making my abstract canapés. I put one thing down and then looked to see what could fit next. Not everything worked together, but it was fun playing!

Go explore the Regeneration 2021 gallery and then have some fun making something!

Abstract Canapé II. Ingredient prompts were the colors - chartreuse, silver and black, the shapes - snake, heart and 6-pointed star, and the numbers - 3, 1, and 4.