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.

  

Brown paper bag April Community Thrive Art journaling challenge {video}

Brown paper bag April Community Thrive Art journaling challenge {video}

I've been inspired by Heather Santos to create this brown paper bag video where I've used the brown paper bag to create art envelopes. Heather created five cute & sweet hearts! Yay! How cool is that? I've always wanted to use my brown paper to create some art, so I thought now it's the moment to try my hand.

Want to see how I've made these envelopes? Here is the video I've created. Enjoy!

Now I'm curious what's ahead for May art journaling challenge!



See you soon,

Cristina

Shades of blue

"Shades of Blue" - acrylic on canvas

What's on your art table?

Following the example of Roben Marie, here is what's on my table today:

I've started with a simple drawing...

Intended to use only watercolor, but I cannot help adding acrylics...

And working on the background with stencils...

Here is the final result ;) 

Her torso as well as the other page will serve as space for journaling!

See you soon!

Tonal painting

Hey guys! How are you? I been trying to post more often here, like maybe every day, but yesterday I had a super-crazy day and all my time went in so many directions. You cannot control when your sister enters labor and you cannot control rain and not even a flood in the basement. But you can control your nerves while trying to do them all perfectly! :)

I have posted a photo with this project on Instagram, and then never said a thing about it. I know you're curious to see how that page turned out, so here is how I started.

This time, my page was blank. I was inspired by some angelical drawing and paintings I saw on YouTube and wanted to try myself and see if I can do this. In the end, the result is not as I expected, but I still love her!

This time I don't have that many photos with the process. I guess I was too absorbed into it to stop and take photos. Maybe next time, and believe me, it will be a next time! 

In no time, from those watercolor and ink splashes I ended up with this little creature on my journal page. Imagine I left my brushes and colors on the table and did my daily chore and then returned to her and started to paint again. 

But painting becomes even more beautiful when you do it between the lines, when you barely have time and there are lots of other things going on around you. Or maybe this is just me, this time I could just concentrate on this page and not thinking too much about the rest. But most of the time I love working in silence, without interruptions and all that. But who doesn't, ha? :)

Open your heart for this creature! I don't know how to call her. It has some wing, but it doesn't really looks like an angel wing, so I don't know what to say. I call it a creature, a fantastic, unreal creature of my imagination. Isn't it what we are artists do when painting? When it comes to mixed media and art journals, we create something that only exists in our imagination. 

I think this is called tonal painting, but I'm not quite sure. I just find this style very appealing. 

I did some journaling on the right side of the drawing, I felt that the page needed some explanations when I come to her later on.

Please take a moment and tell me what you think of this creature :) I would Love to hear from you!

Whimsical animals

These days I feel I need to try everything when it comes to art: if it's not painting, it is drawing, if it;s not real, it;s whimsical! So here it's my first whimsical dog I ever did. And to tell you the truth, I love it so much!

I just started to sketch this sweet dog without having the final result in my mind. Then I thought it would look good with some splash color all over his face and body. SO I took my acrylic paints and started to add color. And this is the result: I'm loving every bit of it!

I started drawing on a page I no longer liked. In fact, this was a page I didn't liked any more so I added glue and then paper collage. In the end I added color (blue) and on some other day, golden acrylic paint using a gorgeous technique I'm not going to talk about right now. And because of that collage, the page became thiker than the rest of the pages, just perfect to add even more layers of color.
I think perfection comes with practicing. JUST draw something today! Right now!

See you soon,
Cristina

Abstract painting

Justa quick note! Abstract painting is in the house again. I´ve found inspiration in so many online websites that I had to try painting something abstract once again. It´s been a while since my last abstract try, and I´m happy with the result I got.

This is just a detail cut from the big picture. I just wanted to upload this first until I get the chance to show you the final result.

Dreaming of summer days

Inspired by Jane Davenport online class, I drew this beauty into my journal-book. A journal book with hard cover and glossy pages, but perfect to add gesso on them and then color with acrylics.

Here you can see the name of the book on the right page. I just added more color and completely transformed the page, so can no longer read "master chef".

Handmade paper stencils

 The leaves you see on the left page are handmade stencils I made.

This girl you see here was painted on my A4 art journaling, a journal with sketching paper from Derwent, who still takes water very well. 110lbs/ 165grm is more than OK for me, because I gesson my pages most of the time, and even if I don't it's still OK. And when you build layer after layer, even better!

And after using the paper stencils once or twice, you can create collages in your art journal. Imagine this stencil on a complementary color background! Just lovely!

I've also used this stencil to draw with my Inktense pencils. And look how gorgeous it came out!