Creative Inspiration from Reading
One thing I’ve been muling over recently is the delight in reading books and the serendipitous ideas which emerge. Yes, it’s a well known thing that to learn, one often reads (and talks, debates and thinks).
What I’ve been enjoying recently is the fun of seeing what creative ideas I get when reading. It’s been happening so frequently that I’m almost making a game out of it for myself. Some of the books are art and creativity related so getting ideas from there is not such a surprise. I’ve started inking out words from the pages of a book to see if I can create interesting random sentences. Austin Kleon, author of books, Steal Like an Artist and Keep Going, does this with newspapers. I’m using an old copy of Pride and Prejudice to see what I can find. So far I find it’s hard!
I’ve been reading A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor. Much of the book is rather dry and my mind drifts off when I’m reading it (I’ve been told the BBC podcast of it is really, really good however). Many of the objects don’t inspire me much, but every now and then, there is a piece that I want to and have drawn.
Novels are also a great place for art ideas to come from. Yesterday, in one of my sketchbooks, I was working on an animal from a list I made from animals mentioned in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I thought I knew a lot about animals before I started reading the book, but I encountered species after species that I didn’t know much about or what they looked like. I decided that drawing them would be a good exercise. I certainly didn’t start the book with an idea that I was going to be drawing from it (in both senses!)
Start of an ink drawing of a bison in my sketchbook (photo on wikipedia by Jack Dykinga)
Three books together are making me think of starting a workshop/group to go through one of the books together, Making Art a Practice by Cat Bennett. The other two books which are adding to the conversation are The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker and Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. Raising awareness of systemic inequality is not the issue for creating this workshop, but the organization of the book with journaling from prompts, and then talking about exploring together through a shared circle can be used in the format of the class. I love how things related and interconnect so often.
And the list of inspiration goes on…
What books have you been inspired to create from?
New Sketchbook Subject Sampler Workshop Series Starts in August
Over the next year, I am offering a place to dive in deeper into topical studies with your sketchbooks. These workshops will encourage you to observe and draw while learning to be creative on a regular basis. Your drawings can be slow and meticulous or fast and prolific. It’s all meant to give you practice with keeping a creative practice as well as having a community to share with and learn from.
We will meet for the first three weeks of the month on Thursdays, 4:00-6:00 pm Pacific Time online via Zoom.
Starting August 6th, we will Play with Our Food. Anything related to food is fair game, but I will start off with drawing fruits and vegetables before moving to drawing meals, recipes, and scenes from markets or cafes.
Sign up for one month, all the months, or just the ones that appeal most to you!
I will be working primarily with graphite, ink (fountain pen and fine liners) and watercolor but I will add in different media as suits. You can start with the basics – a pencil and a sketchbook and add supplies as your interests evolve.
For more information and to register, visit www.anyatoomre.com/workshops
A Sketch Collage of Snippets
I took a two-hour workshop over the weekend with Sketchbook Skool that gave a lot of ideas of ways to fill up pages in a sketchbook. One of the suggestions fits in with something I already love to do - collage drawings. I do this with my travel journals. This spread was much quicker and more loose and wonky than I usually draw but it was fun.
The suggestion was to take a spread, a couple of pages, in your sketchbook and fill it with drawings of things that you live with and that are around you. It can be done all in one sitting or done over a few days. The drawings could be larger or smaller or exact size to fit in puzzle-wise on the spread. You can keep it as just ink or add color later.
I started with various things that were on my desk or were within arm’s reach. A lot of them turned out to be things that I had been keeping there so I would draw them. I have a dragon from Japan, soap from Portugal, a gift, a picture of my grandmother’s cat, pictures of my departed dog, as well as various odds and end like a Kleenex box, lip balm, a jar of brushed, a small container of ink..
What’s nice about this kind of project is that it can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it. It can also be done in different rooms of the house or it can be a visual diary of a day. Do it with one kind of tool one day, and a different one another day.
Try it and share with me what you drew.
A sketch collage of snippets from my desk
Are you interested in the possibilities of what you can do in a sketchbook? Do you have some ideas but aren’t sure where to start? I am offering a new 6-week workshop: Exploring Keeping a Sketchbook which starts this Friday, May 1st. We will be meeting live via Zoom, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Pacific time. I will give you at least 5-10 different things to try every week in class and between sessions. Come join the fun and start filling your sketchbook and developing a creative habit.
Flip-Through Video of My Portugal Travel Journal and Some Time-Lapsed Drawing
The view uphill near the Alfândega in Porto, Portugal.
I continue to work on my art daily and have also continued making videos of my drawing process making progress on various projects.
The video I made here is a combination of a flip-through of my Portugal Travel Journal to show where it is currently at.
In the video I also work on one drawing from a hillside in Porto that was opposite the Alfândega where the International Urban Sketchers Symposium was held in 2018.
Conveniently across the street from this collection of houses with all their windows and doors (and laundry!), there was a short wall that was great for sitting. During the Symposium, there were dozens of people sitting along this wall looking at the view in my photograph. It was so much fun walking down and stopping to look at artists’ sketchbook after sketchbook with so many different styles and approaches.
All of my videos are available for viewing on my YouTube channel. Click here or go to YouTube and search on my name.
Do you have lots of pictures from trips sitting in your phone and not being looked at? Have you ever wanted to make a travel journal with some of your photos? I love travel journals and I love teaching my workshop, Create a Travel Journal in Ink and Watercolor. The next one will be done live online via Zoom starting Tuesday, April 14th, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Pacific Time. Check out my workshops page for more information and to register.
Good News! Upcoming Workshops and Open Studios will be Happening Online!
Good news! Art workshops still can go on with slight adaptations.
I will be offering my upcoming workshops (Introduction to Bullet Journaling, Illustrating Recipes and Creating a Travel Journal in Ink and Watercolor) online via Zoom for the immediate future until we can meet in person again at Cloud 9 Art School. We will meet close to the originally scheduled times in Pacific Time as listed in each workshop.
Meeting online means the possibility for you taking the class if you weren’t able to be in the physical area before! If you are interested in taking one of my 6-week workshops online but can’t at the scheduled time, let me know what time and day works for you. I’m happy to run a class if we can get at least two or three people to join at the same time.
I will also be running my Open Studio Monday nights online via Zoom. Just send me your email before 6:15 pm Pacific Time so I can send you a link for the 6:30-7:30 pm meeting room.
For the next two weeks until March 30th, my Open Studio be free to attend. After that it’ll be $10 until we can meet in person again.
If you like the Open Studio online we can continue, just on a different time and day than Monday nights.
Life is certainly different with changes made because of the need for physical distancing. It’s important to still do creative things to keep active in positive ways. I love the idea of coming together and seeing what you are all working on. Let’s adapt, make new friends, and keep being creative!
Travel Journaling in Ink and Watercolor
I like to travel journal after I get home from a trip using my photos and odds and ends that I bring back. This is from a trip to Porto, Portugal. The seagulls are happy to dive bomb unsuspecting diners to snatch treats away. Do watch out!
I use ink and watercolor in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbooks. I choose pictures from a day that have the most meaning and significance to me and then edit and put them into an arrangement that seems pleasing. I make a rough sketch of the elements on scratch paper. Once I like how it looks, then I start drawing in my sketchbook. I use pencil first, then ink - often with a fountain pen but sometimes with a fine liner but always with permanent waterproof ink, and then I watercolor. I try to leave white space for a title and notes.
If you are interested in learning more of this process to create your own ink and watercolor travel journal from your own photos, check out my workshops to see when the next one will be offered. At the time of this post, my next Travel Journal 6-week workshop will be on Wednesday evenings, 6:15 - 8:45 pm, at Cloud 9 Art School in Bothell, WA.
