Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker video book review

Hello dear ones! Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker book just arriver yesterday and I thought it would be nice to make a short video flip though so you can see what's inside. In the video below I'll show you some of the art materials I use to create my portraits and art journal pages! Enjoy it! And don't forget to tell me what you think about it in the comments below.

  

Derwent Art Journal Flip through - creativemag.ro

Flipping through one of my most loved art journals - Derwent Classic Book are perfect alternative to more expensive ones. They don't have super high quality paper, but they are great for mixed media, especially if you gesso the pages first. I seldom did that in this journal, and even so, the pages take water pretty well for a journal that claims to be intended for pencils only.

*****************MAKE SURE to turn on the English subtitle/CC!*******************

Art journaling redheaded girl

Hello dear creative soul!

Earlier today I've managed to upload and publish a video on YouTube with my latest art journal creation! This time it's a semi-profile gorgeous redheaded girl that turned out so precious.

I have worked a lot on the video for this page, I guess I had 6 or 7 videos to merge and create one final file. But the result is stunning! I am very proud of it, although I haven't managed to add sound until now, the image and annotations help you follow the whole process from the start to the end of it.

I am working in my handmade art journal, just the same as I did here, made out of an old calendar paper, the one that you usually throw away at the end of the year. I had my eyes on this one, as it has thicker paper and as I thought, it proved to make a great art journal. I just have to add gesso and there we go! 

However, because one side of the paper is glossy and the other one is not that much, when you paint on the glossy side you should be careful to add an extra layer of gesso, as the colors tend to peel off the page. unlike the page linked above, this time I'e worked on the glossy side of the paper and at some point I have peeled out some color when I pressed too hard on her eyes and hair. But as you probably know, that is not a problem and the situation can be fixed with some acrylic paint. 

Now let's see the video! It speaks more than I can write about it in here. And I'm sure you're going to love it! Please LIKE IT and subscribe to my channel to follow my artful adventure!

Till next time,
Cristina xx

Turn an "old" journal page into a beautiful new one!

I know you all are anxious to see the final result of the girl I've posted the other day on Instagram. The truth is that I've been waiting to draw on that journal page, as I'm waiting to paint on the rest of the pages that are not blank. I think the color splash, stencils, stamps or just cleaning the brayer makes the page more interesting and gives depth to the drawing, painting or whatever you add on. And when you work with watercolor, the colors behind show, altering the result.

Here is the page where I started to draw some flowers with a black permanent micro pen:

And I continued with a larger flower that I didn't liked so much at first, but then it started to look amazing when I added the face:

And look at it! The page already looking pretty good, isn't it?
But wait, I had to continue adding more color until I could add water to it, so here is how I did it:

Here is when I started to really really love it! Her hair growing longer and the combination with the flower on her neck and face give her a mysterious look. And the locks of hair - just a suggestion to how her hair looks like and how long is it.

But the fun is only now about to start, because this is the moment when I added water and all the colors turned to magnificent creations! Oh, how I love these ink pencils! Inktense pencils from Derwent are delicious to try. Chocolate of art supplies or maybe a chocolate cake. But to define this drawing/painting I had to make use of my neocolor 2 watersoluble crayons for the white of the eyes...

And after more layers of color on her face, I came with this result. I'm not really sure if this is it, because her hair looks a little bit incomplete, but hey, I don't want to add too much color on her hair and make it look too busy to the eye. I shall see! But for now, I just LOVE LOVE her look! 

As I said, I've used neocolor2 for the white of the eyes, which is not really white, but a light cream called light lemon yellow. In my opinion, this color has nothing to do with what you think when reading lemon yellow, it's rather a very light cream - like vanilla white - than a lemon yellow.

Well, that's is it. I'll leave you enjoy it. 

See you soon!

Much love,

Cristina

Geranium flower illustrated in watercolor Inktense pencils

This flower has a special meaning to me. After my grandfather died back in 2007, all his flowers went into my mother custody, but unfortunately most of them have died over the years. This one here is the only one left and it's again in bloom! I have painted a pot in my journal, but the reality is that the flower is sitting in a glass with water. My mother says it doesn't need to have roots to plant it in a pot with soil. Probably I will find a pretty pot for it these days, so it has a nice 'home'.

As the title suggests, I've used watercolor Inktense pencils from Derwent, using poppy red for the flowers, of course, and a combination of greens for leaves. The pot has burnt sienna and mustard painted on.

I've also heard that geraniums are good for impatient people and helps calming down those who are restless.

see you soon,

much love,

Cristina

Portrait sketch using INKtense pencils from Derwent

Today I woke up to a cloudy sky. Half of the light intensity I was expecting to see when I opened my eyes. I was tired after fighting with allergy symptoms last night that caught me up until about 3 AM in the morning. Not long after, the rain started. Clean and kinda cold air. After my husband went out for work, I said to myself that it's time to get up and do something that I really love. So I took one of my art journals and an INKtense pencil and started to draw a face. I chose to use Derwent pencils because they cannot be erased with the eraser, so I won't be tempted to go back and erase the face and start over. If I'm going to mix it up, I'll just have to move on and see if I can continue or add some gesso to cover it.

This is what I came up with after 10 minutes. I really love to sketch with colored pencils, especially if they are watercolor: when adding water, the color will blend with the area right next and the effect is gorgeous! And because I absolutely love colorful pages, I decided that I should go for some color and added all kind of INKtense colors on her face. 

Yeah, this reminds me of Fauvist style, a style that I'm drawn by a lot, and I see beautiful results even with watercolor (ink) pencils, not only with acrylics or oils. 

At this point, I wasn't sure I want to add any water to it, she was already looking stunning. But you know me, I have to go beyond my comfort zone and try something new every day, so I went ahead and added water. 

And boom! the result was amazing! I couldn't believe my eyes how gorgeous she turned out! Oh, wait, I do believe it! :)

I worked on a sketching art journal paper, so the pages are not quite suitable for watercolor, but hey, after bending a little, the page came to it's original shape in the end. And this is just a watercolor sketch, but it's one that looks amazing! That's only a reminder that i should sketch faces more often, no matter if it's watercolor, acrylics or oil pastels.

What do you think of her? I would like to read your thoughts in the comments below!

See you soon,
Cristina