Shades of blue

"Shades of Blue" - acrylic on canvas

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

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:

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

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!

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

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.

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.