Pencil Artist of the Week: Angela Trotta Thomas

This week’s pencil artist’s medium of choice is actually oil paints, but that doesn’t stop her from creating some fine pencil art too. Her name is Angela Trotta Thomas, and her pencil sketches embrace a timelessness that perfectly sums up this time of year.

The subjects of Angela’s art vary, but she is best known for her depictions of toy trains. Many of her paintings and sketches present toy trains being opened on Christmas morning or prepped for the holidays, and possess an air of nostalgia akin to that found in Norman Rockwell’s iconic illustrations.

The pencil pieces Angela has posted are actually the preliminary pencil sketches created prior to her final paintings. They not only display the artist’s talent with a pencil, but also give us some insight into her creative process. Angela starts with an idea, transfers that idea onto paper with a pencil and then, and only then, she creates her finished painting.