Wermaid Studio

Wermaid Studio Nurturing creativity and community in the heart of Rolleston. Safe and cozy space for beginners, experts, and everyone finding their artistic voice. Draw often.

Draw curious. Draw imperfect. Hey there, I'm Anya! Originally hailing from a charming little corner of Bavaria known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen, I landed in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Christchurch, New Zealand, back in 2015. I'm all about the whimsy in life - fairy tales, folk tales, animals, and mythology. If it's got a good story behind it, I'm hooked. When I'm not busy conjuring up art, y

ou can find me walking the great outdoors, nose-deep in a good book (preferably a fantasy one, of course), or crafting the next amigurumi or sculpture. I’ve been painting commissions for a lot of happy clients since 2016, mainly realistic pet pastel portraits of furry family members. Right now, I'm knee-deep in a series of oil paintings that I can't wait to share with you via social media.

First party animal spread is done. The next one is already sketched out and ready to go 🤘🏼🥳
19/07/2026

First party animal spread is done. The next one is already sketched out and ready to go 🤘🏼🥳

Here is the second Party animal sketch with a randomly picked color scheme. This one was tricky 😅 I was like "How on ear...
13/07/2026

Here is the second Party animal sketch with a randomly picked color scheme. This one was tricky 😅 I was like "How on earth am I going to use those colors?" but strangely enough it worked out quite nicely. I keep surprising myself somehow.
If you want to try this yourself, here is the reference image and color palette.

Current sketchbook spread: pigs 🐷 🐽 Just playing around with my gouache and coloured pencils.
11/07/2026

Current sketchbook spread: pigs 🐷 🐽
Just playing around with my gouache and coloured pencils.

All the works in progress at the moment at various stages of completion. With oil paintings I learned to have at least t...
11/07/2026

All the works in progress at the moment at various stages of completion. With oil paintings I learned to have at least three going at the same time while you’re waiting for other things to dry (especially in these weather conditions it can take ages 🫠).

Here's how I set up a pastel project: I grab the original reference image and pick out the colors digitally, then I go t...
04/07/2026

Here's how I set up a pastel project:
I grab the original reference image and pick out the colors digitally, then I go through my pastel material and grab the colors that match or the closest I have. I print out the reference image to size and use tracing paper to get an exact sketch.
Pastels can be a bit messy, so I try to work from left to right.

Back to my Court of Fur & Fable characters. Here is Lieutenant Itchy in progress.I love how the armour came out.
03/07/2026

Back to my Court of Fur & Fable characters. Here is Lieutenant Itchy in progress.I love how the armour came out.

01/07/2026

Here's a 1 minute timelapse of a 4 hour project. I'm hoping to create more of these as I get better at video editing and not forgetting to record myself 😅

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An abandoned practice pastel piece is finally on the way being finished. I’ve been recording it, so hopefully I can shar...
29/06/2026

An abandoned practice pastel piece is finally on the way being finished. I’ve been recording it, so hopefully I can share the full Timelapse once it’s finished 🙂 I love animal eyes. Can you guess whose eyes 👀 these are?

This weeks doodle sessions. Lots of animals, some colour studies and a little unfinished charcoal portrait. I haven't gr...
23/06/2026

This weeks doodle sessions. Lots of animals, some colour studies and a little unfinished charcoal portrait. I haven't grabbed my pastels in ages and I have had an unfinished piece staring at me in the closet 😅 it's time to finish it before I attack my next big project.

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