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!

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

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!

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. 

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

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

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

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 1

Have also posted about my week 1 journal on my Bubblews account. 

YEY! here's week 1 from the documented life project! I'm behind with posting about it, the project is already on week 4, but as I told you I have done all the three previous weeks. Here is week 1!

For the week one we were supposed to paint, draw or attach a photo with the front door. My door pattern is pretty hard to draw, so I've tried to draw it as simple as possible. Oh yeah, I gotta tell you this was a real challenge for me! Still, this is the original door pattern, and I'm more then happy with the result. When I first started to draw it, I didn't thought it's going to come out so beautifully!

I did sketch after a photo I wanted to attach here, but I've decided not to. The illustration should be enough to make an idea about it. 

When I've started to add color, I could see the whole picture with color and everything turned into a beautiful illustration! I sure have to create other sketches and paint them with watercolor, it was so relaxing painting this, even if it took me more than one day, giving the fact that I had to stop multiple times. 

But it doesn't really matter, as long as I managed to finish it up! What do you think of it? Are you part of the documented life project? :) 

I also wrote about the documented Life on Bubblews.

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 ;)