Sketchbooks on Display at Kirkland Library for January 2020
I set up a display of my sketchbooks today at the Kirkland Library in Kirkland, WA. They’ll be there for the month of January. I have examples from my travels and urban sketching, food illustration, botanical drawings, copying from the masters, drawing animals and people and homework from classes. Just a small sample of the whole! If you stop by, let me know what you think. Happy New Year!
If you’re not able to get to the library to see the sketchbooks on display, here are some of the drawings that I have images for.
Top Row, Left to Right:
Middle Row, Left to Right:
Bottom Row, Left to Right:
My December Newsletter is Now Available
The December Newsletter for Anya Toomre Studios is available now.
Welcome to my art world! I try to publish my newsletter every couple of months. This edition has images of student work from various workshops, drawings from Inktober, a book recommendation, a call for clients for free coaching and upcoming workshops. Please sign up for my email list on my Contact page if you haven’t already done so and you will automatically get my next newsletters. If you would like to read earlier newsletters, they are also available on my About page.
How I begin with drawing chocolate wrappers
Here’s how I start drawing a chocolate wrapper.
Here’s the start of my next chocolate wrapper from Amsterdam. I freely admit that I bought several bars of this van der Burgh chocolate because of the wonderful paper they are hand wrapped in. I start by tracing the basic outline of the wrapper. They’re a nice size to draw life-size and fit nicely into a sketchbook. I usually always do pencil first but I don’t get things “perfect". The lines are there so I can adjust with my pen if I need to. I draw with a fountain pen and often turn the pen upside down so I’m drawing with the back side of the nib which usually provides a finer line. This is a fun, complicated and yet meditative pattern to try and replicate and draw. It’ll be time to bring out my teeny tiny paintbrushes when it comes time to paint!
Recruiting Clients for Free Email Creativity Coaching
Recruiting Clients for Free Email Creativity Coaching
Do you think of yourself as a creative person? Are there things interrupting your creative work and practice? Do you need a cheerleader, someone to be accountable to, someone to listen and respond to? I am doing a creativity coaching training and would like to offer you some free email-based creativity coaching. There would be 7 interactions over a 2-month period: every week for three weeks and one week off for reflection and the same pattern the next month, with a final email at the end wrapping up thoughts. If you’re interested, please contact me at anyatoomre@yahoo.com.
Drafting a Portuguese Tile Pattern - Next Steps
See the next step in my process of drafting a Portuguese tile pattern.
Here are some photos of the next stage in working on my Portuguese tile pattern. I’ve inked the four tile group but have left, for the moment, the pencil lines for you to see, both grid lines and approximate sketch lines that I adjusted in ink. I made some adjustments in the pattern between the inking of the solo block and the group of four. I saw different details as I looked over the wall of repeating tiles in my reference photograph. My next steps are to erase the pencil lines, scan the pattern, then paint.
How I Start Drafting a Portuguese Tile Pattern
The first step in drafting a Portuguese tile pattern in my sketchbook
It’s been a while since I’ve worked a Portuguese tile pattern. This is how I start. I find a tile from a picture I took, then try to figure out what the pattern is. I pencil in horizontal, vertical and diagonal grid lines so I can keep things proportionate. I draw it first in pencil just the one tile, and if it looks good then start on the four tile repeat, ink, then paint. I still love all the variation and different kinds of patterns made with just one small tile!
Quilted Boxed Bag in Lime Green with Pink Zipper and Coordinating Panel Now Available
If you like handmade and quilted items for yourself or for a gift, I now have one of my boxed quilted zippered bags now available in my shop. I made it with a hand-dyed lime-green fabric, a pink zipper and a coordinating panel made from pieced scraps of fabric. It’s 100% cotton and washable. It’s approximately 9” x 3 1/2” x 2”. Let me know if you would like one but in a different color.
