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

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!*******************

CreativeMag.ro plus some insights!

Sit back and have a cup of coffee with me...

As I'm getting ready for summer... (or mostly dreaming about summer days on a rainy-snowing day)

What's new on the blog...

Want to know how I made this art journal page? Click Here!

My Dear Ones,

It's been a crazy busy-ness in the past couple of months and I tried to keep up with the flow. But having two blogs I need to constantly update it's been really really crazy for me. That's one of the reasons you haven't seen too many blog posts around here. Actually, I only posted one at the beginning of the year.

So I decided to simplify the process and write bilingual English-Romania posts on my self-hosted blog at creativemag.ro 

From now on, I'll be posting my art journal pages mostly on creativemag.ro and keep you updated with my latest art journaling pages. However, this blog here hosted on blogger will continue going as a place of sharing my personal thoughts and stories as they come and go. So stick around and come visit from time to time, because I'll be posting about my life and occasionally about the process of creating my art journal pages :) 

Hugs & Love,

Cristina

PS. Have you seen this art journal page? Click HERE to open the box! 

Creating with unconventional materials

For an art journal maker like I am, it's great to have all the materials you need to create at your finger. But that's not always the case, because where I live, they are hard to find.

Only in the past few months I have come to discover several online stores with art supplies that I can actually use for art journaling. Of course, I had paints and colored pencils, watercolor pencils, oil and soft pastels, etc., but so little few stamps and stencils! And when i did find some interesting stamps in physic stores, they were sooo expensive that I wonder if somebody ever buys them! Not to mention the ink pads!

Even worse when it comes to stencils. I could barely manage to find 2 or 3 a year ago at a local store when I was looking for something totally different. I'm glad that I can now say that stencils are very much getting on the shelves and many of them can serve perfect for creating art journal pages! 

But even if I have about 20 stencils or so, I always want more. And I found this sink plastic protection when I was just "browsing" a dollar store shelf. I thought I would be a great stencil and I was right! Look at the result:

Gorgeous, isn/t it?

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!

21 SECRETS is up and running

One of my quick watercolor faces I did in my mini-art journal ;) 

Yesterday I unwrapped 21 Secrets e-book and watched some of the videos! My first pick? Dion Dior! She is a great artist and the videos are so much worth every penny!

I was familiar with many of the techniques presented there, but viewing those only made me want to paint more and reinforced what I already knew deep inside: we are all unique creators, and we can unfold so beautiful to release the wonder inside each and every one of us!

I wanted to have 21 secrets FALL 2014 to learn new tips and tricks, but also to support the amazing artists and their creative flow.

Also, I would love to win a LIFE BOOK 2015 free spot because I find LIFE BOOK even more exciting!

Getting messy is great for the soul

I haven't posted around here in a while, but I was around! I did some painting and drawing and sketching! And it;s hard sometimes to balance between creating and writing. I love both, but many times I run out of time while I try to make them both.

I can't do them all AND that iS OK. One thing at a time, please :) 

Now here is my latest painting using mixed media. I wanted to create something free of any judgements and here is what I came up with. And to tell you the truth, the inner critique spoke to me at some point saying: "what's that craziness over there, girl?" But then I said: WAIT, at first it will look crazy and meaningless until it gets better and....better. And Nicer.  If I could paint like a child, I would. BUT I can paint like a child IF I let go. And I believe you can, too!

With no further introduction, here is the result. NOT final. I don't know what's missing, maybe more work on the background...who knows?! Maybe one day I'm gonna go back and add to this piece.

Life Book 2015 giveaway from Jeanne Oliver

Today another wonderful creative soul is offering a free spot in LIFE BOOK 2015. And you have a chance to win if you leave a comment at her blog right here:  http://jeanneoliverdesigns.com/blog/2014/09/19/life-book-2015-teacher-line-blog-hop-giveaway/

If you want even more chances to win, then all you have to do is to share the link above on Facebook and Pinterest to get extra chances! Isn't that fabulous?!

Are you still here?

Get your buns on Jeanne's blog to enter the giveaway!

Drawing and painting on the go

On my way back home from a fantastic September vacation, I had my mini sketchbook in my purse, so it was easy to surrender to the urge of drawing something. SO I grabbed my pen and sketchbook and started to draw after a brochure I had picked earlier from the mall.

So I created this little black perfume bottle...

And this makeup set...

...

And kept on drawing...

And painting with watercolor...

And I love the result! I had to use a small amount of water, because the paper is not suitable for water media, but in the end I closed the notebook and pressed to flatten the pages. 

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

Watercolor portrait art journal project

I'm only getting started with these watercolor portra A6 art journal. I love the fluidity of the water running to the paper. It makes the think of a light summer breeze on a sunny beach. I'm not at home, but unfortunately not on a beach, and not being in my studio is the reason why I'm using watercolor: you need very little to start painting with watercolor, just the watercolor palette, a medium brush and a journal is all you need. Oh, and of course, a glass with water! 

Start by ading color to the sketch. This time I did the sketch before hand, and to be honest, I wasn't going to add color to it. But yesterday I thought it would be nice to try again my Car an d'ache watersoluble crayons. I only have 10 colors with me, but among them you can find the skin colors. 

Continue adding color until you cover the whole face, now it's time to add water....

Because this is a sketching journal, the paper is going to bend when adding water, but if you use just enough to activate the color, then you'll have no problem with it.

Below you can watch a video with {almost} all the process - but bve careful, I filmed using my smart phone, and having a camera in one hand while painting with the other aint easy at all! 

Here is the YouTube video:

Watercolor matching watermelon

Today I had my first slice of watermelon this year. It was even more delicious than I've expected! And then I remembered that I once saw some amazing art journals with watercolor illustrations of watermelon slices, and I thought, why not give it a try?

I took my Canson A5 art journal and started to sketch two slices of watermelon. I didn't work after a model, because the slice I had in front on my eyes on the table was too thin and ...didn't look that well as I wanted. The slice you see in the photo here was cut after I actually sketched the slices, just to take the photo. 

And after I sketched very lightly with a pencil the slices, I went to my favorite part: adding watercolor to it!  This is how it turned after only 10 minutes! I think anyone can draw and paint like this with a little bit of exercise. 

So what do you think? Next time when you have a slice of watermelon, why not beautifully "match" it with watercolor in your art journal?

Till next time,

Much love xx

Cristina

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

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!

Hand-bound art journal

One of my followers on Instagram, Anne-Laure Jacquart, asked me how I bound the art journal I have posted on Instagram. The truth is that it takes some time and ability to bound a hand-book, but it's nothing very fancy, really.

The idea to make a hand-bound art journal came to me when I realized that where I live there are not so many alternatives when it comes to art journaling. This art journaling current is fairly new around here, so only recently I saw that Ranger ink pads are on the market, for example. But when it comes to art journals, there are not so many alternatives. So I decided to look for alternatives, like reusing and repurpose materials, and I found an old watercolor block I had bought long time ago....I tore the pages away and used the sheets to bind them in a brand-new art journal. (see below)

The method of binding can be found in here. It is very simple, although at first it may seem complicated. But once you get the steps, you find that all you need is time and patience. On the second page you´ll find an explication image with a diagram showing how the sewing goes. 

If you try this technique, I would love to hear from you! Please comment below or on Instagram how your final result came out and what you think of the whole process. Is it worth to bind your own art journal or buy one already bound?

Until next time,

***much love***

Cristina

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

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".

Ink sketching is fabulous!

Even "ugly" faces can become famous!

Ink sketch in my Canson A5 art journal.