Pears and Apples - Art journal page {video}

As the fall steps in and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas, all I want is to draw and paint every golden-red leaf and red-orange-green items, like trees, pumpkins and....apples!

These days my art journal asked for watercolor play! And what better way to practice your bliss if not drawing and painting some apples?

I also did this with six pears and got the same stunning effect. You can choose whatever item you like, just start drawing and illustrate that item in as many angles as possible.

Choose something simple, so you won't have to elaborate the drawings too much.

You are going to love the result, no matter how bad or good you think the drawing has come out..

And you know why you're going to love it? Because you created the page!

To see the making of these apples, I uploaded a video on YouTube:

Enjoy!

Hasta pronto,
Cristina

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. 

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

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