VLOG May 30, 2015 - Canvas |Meditation|

Hey there creative souls! This is what's new around here lately and I found that it's way better to record video blogs rather than to write them down. This is my first vlog (or at least the first first I get to publish), so be patient with it! ;) 

So what's new? Well, I know I haven't posted here in a month, but you know where I post at least twice a week, on creativemag.ro! 

This month flew by and I feel so happy with summer approaching so fast! I wouldn't mind this weather all year long, but I know that's not possible, at least not where I live. 

So this is it...jump in and enjoy!

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

EFFY WILD LIFE BOOK 2015 GIVEAWAY!

You/re going to love this! Effywild is giving away a FREE SPOT in this LIFE BOOK 2015! 

LIFE BOOK is an online ART CLASS appreciated by so many young artists willing so learn and discover the creative muse for one year round starting January 1st, 2015!

I have never been part of it, but I would love to learn new tips and tricks from the creative souls that are teaching in this 2015 LIFE BOOK. 

If you want a chance to WIN a FREE SPOT, you can enter EFFYWILD Giveaway!

Drawing Human hands

Hello dear ones!

 I've been away for quite a while now, the reason for that is called Bubblews. I've been writing and posting in there a lot. But I do know there's no place like a Personal Art Journal {Therapy} BLOG, so here I am with what I've done lately when it comes to drawing.

 I did went further with my drawing adventures and, even if I didn't take any drawing classes, my pages are really starting to look gorgeous.

Well, more or less. I have to say I'm proud of these hands of mine. Of the hand itself that did the drawing{my right hand}, and of the hands that are laying on my Art Journal pages.

This is my left hand, 15 minutes to draw it, a pleasure all the way. It is not perfect, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. 

As you can see, this one was sketched on June 20th, and it's again, my left hand from a different perspective. Being right-handed, it comes easy for me to draw my left hand....

When it comes to drawing my right hand, here begins the show! :)

It was a little bit harder to draw the right hand, because I had to leave the pencil down and look at my hand then immediately draw from my visual memory. Challenging! 

But I am really glad I did it, because look at this piece! My two hands facing one another, as if I was trying to read my palm...

PS. Using sketching pencils from Daler Rowney {set of 12 assorted pencils}

See you soon,

Cristina

Whimsical girl with hazelnut eyes art journal page

I have to tell you I've been waiting for some time to return to soft pastels. But something wasn't quite right or I wasn't in the mood to try them again...until today when I grabbed my soft pastel Koh-i-Noor brown set of 12 soft pastels and some other nice bought in open stock and started to draw a face.

At first she was meant to be an watercolor sketch I started a week ago and didn't quite finished it. But since I wanted to play with soft pastels, I thought why not do transform this page into a gorgeous soft pastels whimsical page?

And I think the result came out pretty surprising, considering the fact that I started with a bare sketch and ended with this page!

And this time I wanted a hazelnut brown eyes girl in my journal, a different face from what I usually draw - fantastic girls with blue, green or greeny-blue eyes. I thought that if my eyes are hazel brown, why not pick this color, too?

And to make things even more interesting, I have captured her on camera! Here you can see the video on YouTube:

        Hope you like it, and if you do, please LIKE IT and SUBSCRIBE! Thank you!

See you soon,

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

A piece of Bucharest

Tonight I took the time to do some watercolor painting in my art journal. And as I did paint after a photo taken in Barcelona, I thought I should do the same painting after a photo that pictures the old city of Bucharest, using a photo I found on internet.

This is the "old town" center of the city, where all the fun and parties are at home! The photo was taken by night, on a rainy day, and you can see the people hurry to seek shelter.

It was sketched this on May 26th, but only got the chance to add some color. At first I thought I should leave it as it is, just a sketch, but then I said why not add color? I thought that even if it's not going to be perfect, I'll know I have tried. But I guess I love the result!
This is just one of the pages illustrating Bucharest, there are more to follow!

Have a great week,
Cristina

I am in love...again! - letter of the week 15

Middle of the week. Hope you're not bored or tired...just yet! I mean, I hope you're not bored at all, because that would be a big problem to be solved. If you're bored, it means something isn't quite right. Right? :)

I wake up today thinking about what I shall write in my journal, and I opened Louise Hay positive affirmations to just listen in the background. I instantly loaded with positiveness and good inspiring thoughts. A new day begins, what are you going to do to make it awesome?


I don't know how the shift happened, but it did. I think I was browsing the internet for some beautiful art inspiration when I saw some drawings and paintings completed with soft pastels. And I don't even know what the technique being use is called, but I love they way those paintings are looking! It was then when I realized that I was unfair to the "poor" soft pastels. I thought they are too chalky for me and that I could never create something with them. BUT I was wrong. It was probably the poor quality of the pastels I tried to use that left the impression on me that I don't like soft pastels.

{ I took a break from writing here and when I came back, I found a comment to one of my paintings on a group I belong saying: "I really like the fauvist style of this piece.". It was just what I needed to know. The fauvist style it is the technique I was talking about earlier! It all come to me just when I need them!}

Have an amazing Wednesday! 

Ink sketching is fabulous!

Even "ugly" faces can become famous!

Ink sketch in my Canson A5 art journal. 

Recording life

Recording life by cristinalove11 featuring a wooden clock

Pier 1 Imports buddha wall art / Spicher and Company black home decor / Spicher and Company black home decor / Green Leaf Art wooden clock / John Derian glass tray, $140 / Bird poster / MikeyLins by Petal Lane home decor / Wooden wall art / Pier 1 Imports Enjoy the Ride Journal / Ladurée Set of 6 Pencils, $21

The Documented |Life - Week 3 - Insert an envelope

For this week, most of the participants to the project have only inserted envelops without painting over them, but I feel the need to get dirty in the name of art, and started to add color and collage over it.

As you can see, I've done this again directly on my agenda, which has very thin pages. I've manage to stick to pages on the right side. In the left, the selfie backside was strong and heavy enough to hold the paint and collage.

After the selfie, this could be my favorite! The leaves you see above are not a stamp, not a stencil. I drew them by hand, just right after I randomly added paint in the shape that was somehow close to a leaf. After letting all set and dry - I've come and added the contour of the leaves with a Black Pitt Pen (Faber Castell). Used a lot of light stamping and the gelatos  from Faber Castell (well, the gel sticks).

I haven't been doing too much of a real journaling, like writing about what was happening, a thing that I shall correct in the future. After all, the documented life it's about every day life, with simple - but so meaningful notes. :)

The documented Life Project - Week 2 - Serfie!

This Selfie received lots of Likes on Facebook, and I thank you for that. It was build on my agenda paper directly, after doing some collage using newspapers cuts. I've started to draw the face and the eyes, without thinking too much of the shape and if they are properly aligned. In fact, I believe the left pupil is bigger than the right one, but I just left it as it is. I do love the lips, though. They look more than perfect to me!

It is true that when you just draw or paint and don't think too much how the result is going to look like, in the end you'll gonna love what you've created. 

This picture has a little Instagram effects applied to it. I just loved the colors ans saturation. 

This was week 2 - I think the most loved prompt until now! Let's see what's next on week 3!

The documented Life Project

Originally posted by me on Bubblews:
A new year is a perfect time for a new project, isn’t it? And if there is an art project, even better to me! I didn’t think twice when stepping into this wonderful project run by 5 magnificent talented young ladies that initiated the project. The documented Life Project is made up of 3 parts: one part planner, one art journal and other sketch book. I ended using a planner only, in which I am going to insert watercolor for the time when I need to journal. 

Hello, dear creative soul!

I'm back with The Documented Life Project, initiated by the 5 magnificent ladies who are so inspiring that I've decided to join the project in a blink! I've never been part of such a big challenge, I have to admit it, it's something BIG. It's a whole year of fascinating art and a self-discovering journey. And making this public online is even bigger to me. I've never published so often my art and never shared my art journals until recently, when I felt I want to share them with other amazing artists from all over the world.
SO there we go! I'm already behind with posting, we are on week 4 with the challenge, and for every week there will be a theme.

Here you can check the themes from week 1 to 4.

I've already finished week 1, 2, 3, but I haven't got the chance to write about it here. I know I will definitelly going to enjoy the week 4 challenge: write a secret message and paint over, showing only one key word!

Saying "Hi" to 2014

Good morning or good evening where ever you are, dear creative soul! I know I haven't been writing much on this blog, and it's mostly because I've been doing a lot of writing on another, publishing articles about life and personal development, finding your soul and practicing forgiveness. I'm on a journey, and I only now discovered how much I really enjoy to write.

I haven't been neglected my art journal, though - I have a lot of beautiful and inspiring journaling pages I'm going to post about in here, so bear with me. 

I'm gonna leave you with this art journal page while I get myself back to post about what has been going on in my life and with my art creating process.Until then, stay tuned on your way and keep that smile on your face, shining like nobody else can, but you!

Not perfect, just like me! Oh, but I love her ;) 

Watercolor flowers in my art journal

Just posted some on my latest flower illustrations on Facebook! See below

una publicación de Cristỉña Gàbriella Pärüś.

Journaling my life

It is true that I have been journaling and not posting a thing in here. I did wrote many articles, but not necessary about my art journaling creations. And totally left this place with no interesting posts to read.

Recently I've created this cute face on my A5 Canson Journal I bought from Barcelona this summer. I wanted to create something simple and still beautiful, and as I didn't had too much time to work on her face, I've choose to use watercolors and oil pastels.

I did her face free-hand without worrying about the result. The result came out pretty interesting and I decided to try another girl with the same technique. 

 First I've started with some stamping, one flower stamp that belongs to a 3D stamp set, used all over again changing direction of use. Then I went and filled in some color with the oil pastels. I have covered the whole flower petals, but next time I'm going to leave some petals blank and run with watercolors over it. This was the next step, water-coloring the pages with different colors, with lots of water and sprays. Once you get the desired result, let it dry. Or use a heat gun if you can't wait that long ;)
After applying the background, you'll need to draw the face and hair and also fill in some shadows and highlights for the face and neck.

Et voila! The finish product with some text added and the pages are ready to be loved and appreciated.

Journal girl - Messy face

Haven't been posting about my girls lately, but I've created a lot...and I've been doing some illustrations, too! Here is a girl a little bit different that what I was into until now, just trying different styles and techniques. Love ones more than others, but they are all fun to draw and color!

This face has a messy look 

I've started by adding some background. Painted red over some notebook leftovers I had and then cut them into pieces and created two hearts and some squares that I placed randomly onto the page.

Than started to actually paint the face with acrylics, free-handed and without too much care! Don't let yourself fooled, the acrylic used is not black, but a purple mixed with some leaf green, resulting a dark purple. I don't use black too much, it's too bold to me. 

I have to stop and remember myself to take more photos in the process instead of 'jumping' into the almost finished result. Next time!

A close-up

And the finished result. I should have played more with the background and add more colors, texture, stamps, etc., but for now I'm happy with her!

Back home

I just returned from a loooong well deserved vacation and I'm craving to create some art! I had some supplies with me, but lack of time and tiredness had an important say in this equation. So now that I'm back, want to share with you a bit of preview of the girl I'm working on tonight. This is one among others I did before leaving and didn't had the time to post any of them. But luckly there are smart phones out there able to post on blogger! ;)) So here we go! Excited about the fall coming? I know I am! See you soon!

Happy independence day!

Happy independence day to all Americans out there! I have to tell you I have many American friends and I'm always celebrating along this beautiful special day!
Also today, it is my great pleasure to announce that starting today you can buy my art prints from Fine Art America web page.

You can find all my work following this link. I will add more and more work at least once a week, so you  can choose from a variety of prints and dimensions. If you don't want to miss any of my art, please subscribe to my mailing list.

Mini-Journal page "I trust my intuition" - happy face ;)

Do you remember the mini-journal cover from the other post? The mini journal has glossy paper and it's kinda tricky to work with it, but I've managed to create this read-purple-headed girl who seems very content, she's happy. :-) She's smiling. This is painted on a regular mini-diary I had at hand, so I think it's pretty neat. Maybe I'm going to try to paint a boy next time.

I have to tell you from the beginning that I haven't used the clear stamps for this page. They are too big for the page size anyway. I just grabbed my Fabel Castell grip pencil and begun to do a free sketch.
I came up with this little cute face, which transformed little by little into a more colorful one.

I don't have too many step by step photos, as I was too under the process of painting it, so I totally forgot to take photos. But even so, here is another draft:

Then I added some contour...

I am pretty happy with the final result, although there's always place for a better one.

I've tried to create journal pages before, but none of them turned so beautiful ;-)

She even has some eye makeup! And as I'm a purple fan and I'm using and prefer it when I choose my make-up colors, I had to use it on my girl, too!

I've used aquatone sticks mainly, but also a bit of INKtense pencils for the eyes. INKtense pencils are vivid and vibrant and I love to use them for small details. I've also used some felt cariocas and Uni-ball Signo Angelic (white) Gel Ink Pen (0.7mm) for highlights and dots. When I bought the aquatone sticks I thoought they are more like neocolors II, soft and creamy, but they are waxy and hard to blend when not using water. They say you can use them dry, but I love the creamy feel they have when you add water to them and brush directly from the stick!