A Fish Print - Japanese Gyotaku

I was going through a shelf and came across some gyotaku - fish prints that I made a while ago. Never fear, no fish were harmed in the making of this print, nor was food wasted. I have a special fish form just for the purpose of making prints like this. The original was printed on rice paper which is soft enough to mold around the form, but strong enough to not tear when wet. Copies of this fish print are available in my shop and are up on various products in my Society6 shop. 

First Taco Dinner for the Sketchbook Project 2018

This is my sketch from my first taco themed spread for the Sketchbook Project 2018. The sketchbook is due at the end of April and I have a couple more meals to record. I typically take a bunch of pictures in the restaurant or at the food truck to get images of the atmosphere and then a number of photos of my tacos as they were presented. Since this was the very first spread, the design is fairly basic. As time progressed and I ate more meals and have done more pages, I have added more and more elements and details. I am slowly digitally cleaning up the images from the sketchbook and will post them here as I go. These were delicious. Where is your favorite taco place?

Pet Portrait Commissions Now Available

I am available to do ink and watercolor pet portraits for you, a family member or a friend. I love dogs and cats and have four furry ones at present: three medium and long haired cats and an Aussie. I work from your photos and can capture if your dog is dignified or a goofball, or if your cat is just being a cat! Contact me for more information at anyatoomreart@yahoo.com or look in my shop for more options.

One of my cat portraits is going on a book promotion in Japan

My friend,  Naoko Eric Kita, in Japan is a translator from English to Japanese. One of her latest books is coming out, 名画のなかの猫, translated from "The Book of the Cat." She is sending out promo cards to booksellers in Japan and my watercolor of her cat Sakura is on them. It’s kind of fun to be indirectly part of this project.
I’m available for pet portraits, but no promises that yours will end up on book promotions!

Bitter Melon

A bit of playing with my food. I went to an Indian food market a couple of days ago and had a fabulous time just looking at the fresh fruits and vegetables. I loved the bin of bitter melon and bought one to draw. I might eat it if I can figure out what to do with it! Know any recipes?

Delilah

Here is the lovely Delilah from my most recent commission. She looks like a lovely dog but lives in a different state so I may never meet her. I love her crossed legs! 

If you are interested in a ink and watercolor portrait of your favorite furry friend, feel free to contact me at anyatoomreart@yahoo.com or click on the link for the item my shop. I believe in giving back and supporting places that make a difference. To that end, 5% of any orders of my pet portraits or sketches will be donated to the Seattle Humane Society. My current three cats were adopted through them.

More color and color charts!

Recently I took an online course with Australian sketchbook artist and former architect, Liz Steel with her SketchingNow Watercolours course. She is an amazing artist and a very good instructor. I highly recommend her! I've taken several of her online courses and first came across her as an instructor in Sketchbook Skool, another source of great sketchbook courses online.

Liz led us through a variety of exercises with our watercolors to become more familiar with what our particular paints would do and things to consider when painting on location. One of the lessons was about mixing colors and the benefits of knowing certain combinations of color mixes before going on location so that when that kind of combination was needed it would be easy to mix rather than guessing. She suggested that we make a color mix chart of the paints in our palettes but it wasn't a requirement for the course since it does take a long time to do. However, I find making color charts a lot of fun and rather meditative, so here is my color mix chart of my current travel palette. 

My paints are a combination of Daniel Smith (DS), Winsor & Newton (WN), Holbein, Schmincke and Sennelier.