Daler Rowney Sketchbook? Half way done!

Here is a flip through my mini Daler Rowney Sketchbook. This is half way completed, and I'll probably do another flip through when it's done completely. There are mostly watercolors washes because the paper is so thin, but all in all, it's a great sketchbook to carry around wherever you go to grab it and quickly sketch something. I would love to hear from you in the comment section. And if you love this video, give thumbs up and subscribe to my channel! See you soon!

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.

  

Soft Pastel Portrait

Yesterday I went back to graphite pencils and drew this girly-face in my Derwent Art Journal. It was pretty ugly with that neglectful look when I finished the pencil sketch, so I thought adding soft pastels will make her look much better...

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

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

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

Watercolor illustration of a profile woman

Lately, I find myself digging so much into illustrations and watercolor. Although I love to get messy and splash the acrylic paint on my art journal pages, sometimes I feel an urge to create some simple, fast illustrations. Why I love illustrations? Because they are fast to draw, not looking for perfection in any way, and are clean and neat. Whenever you have a very small amount of time, it's great to go for some fast watercolor sketch that drys quickly and you are ready to move on.

So the other day I posted this on Instagram:

Wasn't really sure what to do next, because I loved her so much just the way it was at first: a pencil sketch. But then I was also in the mood for some watercolor splash, so I thought why not give it a try? 

Being afraid I could mess this up, I started to add a little bit of skin tone and then another, and so on, until I got this:

And wow, it looks really good! Like I want to paint more of this! Which is what I did, but I don't have photos just yet. What I do have are a lot of other photos from the pencils sketches I did, photos that are also posted on Instagram. 

This sketch was made after a photo I found on Google searching for profile faces. It looks pretty much as the model, but maybe I'm just subjective. What do you think? The model can be found here. Please leave your comments below, I would love to hear from you!

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

A piece of Barcelona

If I were to talk about my journey to Barcelona, I couldn't do it otherwise but in drawings. I love to sketch different moments spent in Catalonia's capital. They all come to life when you draw the pictures into a paper and add some watercolor to it. Just a splash of color, not too much. And what a better way to remember Barcelona if not by flipping an art journal? 

This is just a photo illustrated in my journal from so many others waiting to come alive into my pages. I'm only getting started, so this is not quite perfect, but only by practicing every day will become better and better. I'll let you with this journal page.

See you soon,
Cristina