A warm day today, because we have a warm-hearted guest telling her story. Cristina was one of the first artists I met in person after I discovered the arts and crafts world. I attended one of her creativity classes, on home decor. It’s not much about what I learned or did during that class, it’s more about the feeling she gave me – a certain type of calmness and warmth, in every word, every gesture, every color stroke. I had the pleasure of following her work for several years after and her paintings make me smile inside every time. Hope you’ll enjoy her story and will check out her blog or Facebook profile.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Name, age, education and artistic background.

My name is Cristina Simona Marian, I am 32 years old and I was born in a beautiful area in the mountains, in Albesti, near Curtea de Arges. Starting in my first years in school I attended a painting class, where I realized I love colors and being in a workshop. I decided to attend Nicolae Tonitza Fine Arts high school, and then Nicolae Grigorescu Fine Arts University in Bucharest.

You are a visual artist playing with different mediums. How and when did you discover your passion and how was the road this far?

During my kindergarden years and several years after that I tried many things, from piano lessons to violin, guitar and even accordion, then I conducted my school choir, practiced sports, but nothing felt so good like the Cromo painting classes. Meeting Elena Stoica, an extraordinary teacher, was life changing. Since a very young age, I loved story book illustrations and carried my colored pencils everywhere, so that was the point I discovered my path in life. From that moment on, that was nothing that could stopped me. There were tough times, like when I moved to Bucharest where I didn’t know anybody, but it’s a wonderful path that fulfills me.

What aspect of your craft appeals to you the most and why? How does this keep you on your way?

I like the gesture of painting, I love colors and it’s great that I can share my feelings and that the people around have positive reactions. It’s a profession that gives me the freedom to dream, to elope from reality, my workshop is the place where I can experiment and combine different ways of expression.

How is it for an artist like you to live, work and create in Romania? Any challenges you face? Maybe some advantages?

Should I start with… it’s difficult to be an artist in Romania?!? It’s pretty difficult, but I am lucky enough to be able to live out of my paintings and I didn’t have to get a job and lose my creative freedom. To be honest, I don’t consider myself as an artist yet. Although I graduated from University, there are still plenty of things to learn, try, fine tune. One of my sorrows is that it is very difficult to evolve as an artist in Romania, unless you have some material support and somebody that can take charge of all the things time and energy consuming. Otherwise, you’re stuck trying to survive, pay your bills, buy good supplies. There are no workshops (places to work) and one has to improvise. There are also some advantages. You become more knowledgeable, you learn how to fight for your work and to find creative solutions to your problems. For example, it’s a great advantage for me coming from a village where I know everybody and that I can turn to them when I need help. For example, the carpenter I am working with is from my native village and he helps me quite a lot in regards to framing and wood I can paint on, wood is one of my favorite materials.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Any favorite artists you look up to?

Anywhere, ideas come very easily. It’s enough to look around, see images, textures, they are everywhere, meet creative people, listen to stories, I am very attentive to details. Of course, I like browsing art albums and I recently discovered I like Clayton Brothers (Pasadena, California) a lot.

How does your studio look like? What do you need to get that creativity flowing?

For the time being, I work in an improvised studio, in a rented apartment, but there I have everything I need. Albums on shelves, colors and brushes, my easel, all I need is privacy, solitude, music and quiet. I want a space of my own, that I can design like I want, ideally located in an area with plenty of trees and vegetation, where the energy is different. For now, I am moving from one place to another, and here we are back at the question about living and creating in Romania.

If you wouldn’t be an artist, what would you be?

This is a difficult question! I love spending time with children, playing with them, so I could be a good teacher. In the same time, I love working with adults, and for several years now I have been teaching painting and creativity workshops for adults, most of them organized by Calea Victoriei Foundation. I am very empathetic and I would have probably chosen psychology, if it hadn’t been for arts.

What do you plan or dream for your future?

I want to travel more and learn about the livelihood work and love of people far away, to know more about contemporary arts around the world and be able to compare artists and times. To visit museums, not only browse art albums. To teach workshops abroad. And to be able to paint freely, without worrying for what tomorrow might bring.

What is your most treasured handmade possession?

A small collection of birds bought from Senegal, created by the locals from already made objects that are not used anymore, things found on the streets or in the trash – which one might think are the opposite of art. They are very speechful.

What advice would you give to an aspiring artist?

To follow their calling, their instinct. Not to let people’s opinions influence you. To not give up even if the beginning might be rough. To work a lot. To spend time with artists, to observe, test and, very important, to dream!

Hope you enjoyed Cristina’s visit as much as I did. Remember to stop by and say hi on her blog or Facebook page.

Have a great midweek, everybody!

Lately, there’s a lot of buzz around the internet on the topic of fair use of images on Pinterest. If you’d like to do some research, here are some articles I found very interesting.

So I’ve taken my time over the weekend to ponder on my relationship with Internet and Pinterest. I am addicted to Internet, there, I’ve said it, and when I was able to register for Pinterest, it felt like heaven on earth. A wealth of incredibly well curated boards of eye-catching imagery on every subject one could possibly image. What else could I ask for? Creativity at my fingertips was what Pinterest gave me and I started pinning and repinning away. Soon after, here I am, proud owner of 60 boards and 1894 pins.

link with love

Proud, you ask? Well, after this weekend, I’m not so sure anymore. I know some things about me: I am using Pinterest in good faith and under no circumstances would I use an image I pinned for my profit or gain (be it traffic or otherwise). All I want from Pinterest is a place to catalog all the things that make me smile, for an easy way to go back and refuel with beauty whenever I need it. I admit, I rarely checked for the original source of an image I repinned, but for my original pins, I did my best to go directly to the source (although, not all the time).

I also know that there are bad people out there, that plan on using Pinterest with less good faith and I would be very sad if I couldn’t use Pinterest anymore because of them. So I asked myself: what can I do to not let this happen? And the answer is:

spring cleaning on Pinterest

• starting yesterday, no matter how long it will take me, I am taking one pin at the time and updating its source to the original source or deleting it. Until cleaning is over, no more pinning or repinning.
• I respect the desire of any artist of not having his/her images on Pinterest, even if they link directly to them and will take the images down without a question
• will repin an image only if it links to the original source or if I can trace the source and update it
• will not repin images uploaded by users unless it’s 100% clear it’s their image (so probably, I won’t repin images uploaded by users at all)

I know this sounds like a lot of work and takes some of the fun and enjoyment away, but it’s only fair. As long as we can keep our backyards clean, Pinterest will continue being fun and fair to use.

What do you think of Pinterest and its infringement (or lack of) on copyright?

Phew, here goes another week. I must admit I felt quite out of inspiration at some points, but it’s lovely to sometimes play by a theme and understand its limitations, but also the freedom it can give. Here is my week of Souvenir Foto School, in Hipstamatic images. You can always look back at //week 1// or //week 2//.

m is for music

n is for nourish

o is for olives

p is for pencils

q is for questions?

r is for round

s is for suspended

Enjoy your lovely Sunday, you lovely friends!

Even if my day had a late start, due to the late finish of yesterday, I still got around baking some muffins. Today, they are anniversary muffins, for a friend that turns 25. Happy bday, C!

Here goes the recipe, inspired from Cupcakes and muffins. You will end up with 24-30 mini muffins or 12-15 muffins, the regular size.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together 65g butter, softened, and 110g sugar, the superfine type, until fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 115g sour cream and 120ml peach yoghurt.

When combined well, stir in zest from one lemon and 400g canned peaches, chopped. Sift 315g flour and 2 1/2 tsp baking powder over the peach mixture and stir gently. Do not overmix, or the batter will bake strong. At least, this is what the professionals say.

Spoon the batter into the greased (or paper-lined) muffin cups and add 1 tsp of cream cheese in the center of each muffin (you’ll need around 60g of cream cheese for the whole lot of them). Bake for 20-25 min in a preheated over – or until the toothpick comes out clean. The muffins should look golden brown and feel firm to touch.

Sprinkle some sugar on top of muffins. Serve hot or cold. With coffee of milk. Enjoy, all the same.

I might have mentioned sometimes last year that I subscribed to the Felissimo colored pencils. 500 of them, sent out on a monthly subscription basis, 25 of them each month. They also have beautiful, inspiring names, it’s very much fun to make all kinds of association.

Six months have passed by (where did the time fly?) and now I have six beautiful sets of colored pencils. If you were wondering, yes, they are still unused. Part because I am a procrastinator, part because they look so beautiful, I don’t want to damage the collection. But I was forced to promise I will use them, so probably I should start practicing.

Here are three of my sets. The other three will follow soon.

Catamaran, Crocodile, Mountain Greenary, Forest Green, Greenhouse, Ethel Avenue, Irish Hillside, Virgin Forest, Flemish, Casino, Peacock, Rowena, Foliage, Catamount, Huntington, Mint Jerry, Teal, River’s Edge, Prince Valiant, Delta, Verdi, Little Lizard, Hillside, Mint Chutney, Haricots Verts

Wisconsim Sky, Sea Rock, Handsome Harry, Mountain Morn, Guadalupe, Aspen, Mermaid’s Gown, French Twist, Liz, Perfect Purple, Matelot, Lakeside Lodge, French Blue, Sailor Boy, True Purple, Poseidon, Indian Slipper, Russian Sea, Tyrol, Douglas Fir, Port-Of-Call, Midnight Sea, Salty Sea, Blue Velvet, Three O’clock

Blackberry Ice, Hibiscus, Lavender, Paris, Petticoat, Pink Pearl, Rosy Cheeks, Primrose Pink, Pretty Polly, Touch Of Peach, Sassafras, Liu, Hotline, Hortense, Baby Pink, Meteor, Prawn, Creamy Peach, Pink Salmon, Clown Cheeks, Bay Shrimp, Lucy, Bramble, Amaranth, Cavalier

What would you do with so many pencils? Draw, keep and display, give as gifts?

Have a colorful day, my friends!

Out guest today is Maria, one of my high-school friends and a very talented painter. A mom to two extraordinary children and a beautiful soul, she paints her life and dreams in colors and brings smiles to those who have the eyes to see. Hope you’ll enjoy her visit and stop by her blog to say hi.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Name, age, education and artistic background.

Hello, my name is Maria Dermengiu, I’m 29 years old and I’m a visual artist. I have a degree in Law and I’m studying now arts at the Art School of Bucharest.

You are a law graduate turned painter. How and when did you discover your passion and how was the road this far?

Yes, my primary, basic profession is the legal profession which I can’t deny its usefulness in the sense that it gives me a better insight into practical stuff I come across so often. In essence, I’ve always loved to draw, to paint… I’ve always had in me the love for colors but it wasn’t until I looked inside myself that I found who I really was and what I longed for so that I decided to follow my own path, my own voice and leave everything else for the sake of arts.

What aspect of your craft appeals to you the most and why? How does this keep you on your way?

Merging materials, pastes, papers on the canvas appeals best to me now…tomorrow it may be a different approach of the canvas… that is the most appealing- having the freedom to experiment, a constant discovery of yourself, endless possibilities..

How is it for an artist like you to live, work and create in Romania? Any challenges you face? Maybe some advantages?

Challenges, yes, undoubtedly you face them if you are a new-comer. You receive little information about exposure, how, where, with whom to market your art, galleries are a closed circle… In a way, you have to be the artist, and the manager, and all into one if you want to live out of your works, and it’s not simple at all.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Any favorite artists you look up to?

Inspiration comes from everywhere, from everyday life… we are surrounded by beautiful, interesting things, people, places that create a puzzle in my mind and give me ideas that are born on the canvas eventually. I have a lot of favorite artists, many of them are contemporary with us.

How does your studio look like? What do you need to get that creativity flowing?

I need music, and light

If you wouldn’t be an artist, what would you be?

A cook, or a photographer

What do you plan or dream for your future?

I decided not to plan anything, I like surprises and the way my life feels right now. I’m choosing to make the best of it everyday and in doing so, hopefully my life will be sunny as the days go by.

What is your most treasured handmade possession?

A little painting on wood picturing Sofia, my little girl

What advice would you give to an aspiring artist?

Keep doing what you love most and things will eventually fall in the right place

Thank you, Maria, for taking the time to visit us. If you’d like to get in touch with Maria, you can find her on her website, blog or Facebook page.

Have a beautiful day, just like you are!

Apple love – fine art print // handcrafted heart ring // heart tags // heart charms

Have a lovely Valentine’s celebration!

And this is how the year went by: I visited Paris, London, Strasbourg, Greece, Bulgarian seaside and, finally, Barcelona, where I spent a lovely couple of days with my sister, for her birthday. It was a gorgeous weather and I wouldn’t mind living in such perpetual spring.

Here are some highlights of the trip.

the lomo shop

art on the street

a sleeping cat

secret doors

gaudi’s work

the handmade market

the sacred light

urban details

Have a great week!

Week 2 is done and I enjoyed it a lot. I might even get into the habit of capturing at least one photo a day. Will see… Here is my week in photos.

F is for frozen

G is for ginger beer

H is for hipsta-cat

I is for illuminated

J is for java

K is for keyboard

L is for lazy

If you missed week 1, here it is. Lazy, sweet, warm Sunday afternoon to you all!

If there is a combination that can soothe any soul during a freezing winter, like we have here nowadays, then this is apple + cinnamon. You can enjoy the two together in a number of ways, so, of course, there is a muffin recipe in which they are again a perfect match. The recipe below is adapted from //Apple and almonds// and it was a huge success both times I baked them.

The process is the simple wet/dry ingredients. Mix 1 egg lightly beaten, 250 ml milk, 80 ml sunflower oil in one bowl. In another bowl, mix 300g flour, 60g brown sugar, 120g white sugar, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg. Peel and take the core out of 4 medium apples, then dice them.

Add the dry ingredients in a well in the center of the dry ones. Mix well, but don’t overdo it. Add the diced apples and mix some more. Spoon the batter in the greased muffin cups and bake for 20-30 min over low to medium heat (in a preheated oven). If you go for the toothpick test, make sure you don’t get fooled by the wet apple pieces inside.

Enjoy! Add a cup of milk to that.