The Irises are Blooming!
The irises are in fulll bloom now in the Pacific Northwest. It is a great climate for them and there are so many different varieties! This purple and white beauty is one growing in a friend's yard.
Quilted Boxed Zippered Bags Now Available!
From this...
To this!
I have been working on a fabric project for the past few weeks to create something useful and interesting and also be beautiful. I am happy to say that the first few samples are done and I love them! This is a quilted boxed zippered bag perfect for art supplies or toiletries or for travel. I like to save my scraps of fabric from earlier projects and put them together to make new interesting combinations. It is a very time consuming process but extremely satisfying to create. Each bag in this series is unique. The purple fabric in this example is a hand dyed fabric that I made. It is 100% cotton so can be washed as needed. I will be adding them to my shop as I get them done. Let me know what you think!
I will be at the Redmond Cat (or Craft) Revolution, June 2, 2018
I will be at the Redmond Cat (or Craft) Revolution happening on June 2 from 10:00-3:00. It's being hosted by The Whole Cat and Kaboodle and Cafe Cocoa, in the lot next to the Redmond location where Grand Peking used to be. A portion of proceeds will be donated to help homeless and feral cats at the Feral Care Sanctuary located in Bothell. I will be donating a pet portrait commission for their raffle. Come and see and donate and maybe you can win that! There will be a variety of cat retail and craft vendors, and food trucks. Cats and food trucks! Some of my favorite things! Come by and say hi.
Additional Evening Offering Available for Travel Journal Workshop in September
To accommodate people who work during the day and who aren't available Wednesday mornings, I have added a second offering of my "Create an Ink and Watercolor Travel Journal." It will be on Monday nights, 6:00-8:30pm, for 6 weeks Sep 10- Oct 15, 2018. I have a flyer available or go to my workshops page for more information and to sign up.
Taco Tasting Journey for the Sketchbook Project 2018
Here's a page-through of my taco themed sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2018 that will be housed in the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library after a summer tour to various places. I like to food journal and document both my meals but also some of the surroundings and details of where I ate. The project evolved as I progressed through the sketchbook with more and more details getting incorporated and added. This was such a fun adventure and doing the research was not at all a hardship. It was like when I had to go to Hawaii for teacher training before I went to Japan to teach English!
If the video doesn't load, try this link: https://youtu.be/01-KP7VBSOA
If you like tacos, feel free to leave a comment of where some of your favorite restaurants or trucks are. I'd love to go and try some!
A Taco Tasting Journey for the Sketchbook Project 2018 Completed!
The deadline for submitting to the Sketchbook Project 2018 and having it part of a traveling collection for the summer is tomorrow, April 30th, 2018. I am done! My pages are all finished and scanned. I'm working on a video of the sketchbook to post a link here. This was my last meal that I had on a day in Seattle for jury duty. They gave an hour and a half for lunch so I had plenty of time to get to and sit down for an actual meal. This place was great. They have an open kitchen and I sat at the bar watching the activity. They make their own tortillas and it was fascinating watching the woman make, press and then cook the tortillas on the flat top. Great food, nice people, and interesting things around the restaurant for me to look at and draw!
My Latest Commission of LT Kitty
LT was a recent commission of a dearly beloved cat that passed recently much too early. He evidently had a lovely personality and really did have one yellow eye and one blue one. Ink and watercolor.
I am available for pet portrait commissions. Please feel free to contact me at anyatoomre@yahoo.com for more information.