Hello Art friends! I hope you are finding ways to enjoy this slower pace of life right now. I decided to take on the 100 days project and I am so glad I did. I am focusing on art journaling everyday. I am learning so much and connecting with so many wonderful people. The art community has really come together to spread more beauty and joy giving away tutorials and free art talks to help fill our days. Peg and Awl are doing wonderful book binding tutorials over on Instagram. I bound a bunch of watercolor journals following their videos. Last but not least I have been coming on live to do som ..read more

Hello everyone! I am so excited to announce I am going to be teaching on Life Book 2018 next year!  Being a teacher on Life Book has been a dream of mine!  I love all the content, teachers, and the whole vibe of Life Book!  Life Book is full of so much arty goodness!   And even MORE exciting news is that I can GIVE AWAY 1 space on this amazing year long art course!  Keep reading to find out more about Life Book 2018 and to find out how you can win a spot!  Below is a bit more about Life Book in case you haven't heard about it yet! “Life Book, a celebration and ho ..read more

Hi!  Today I am so excited to introduce Erika Barriga!  Erika is the creator of fun, whimsical watercolor illustrations!  Erika is great about sharing tips and all things watercolor! ZEM Brush Ambassador Erika Barriga is a freelance watercolor illustrator. Her beautiful pieces are whimsical and playful, perfect for kids and kids at heart. She has shared some of her story about how she got started, how you can find time for art and what she loves about watercolor. Find more of her artwork and courses at www.Fluximagery.com.   Erika also has a YouTube channel where ..read more

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right. — Henry Ford    From "I can't!" to "I can!"                                                                 Hello creative friends!  Time for a very overdue post. The power of belief has been at the forefron ..read more

Yahoo!  I am so excited to announce that registration for my first online watercolor class has now opened!  I am thrilled to share my love of watercolor with you!  Sign up here ..read more

Welcome and thank you for joining me for my free watercolor series.  This week is all about supplies!  I absolutely love art supplies especially watercolor!  Below I will tell you what I have learned and let you know some of my favorites.  Watercolor Brushes You can buy synthetic or natural hair brushes.  The natural hair brushes are pricey but they hold so much more water and are of higher quality which means the bristles won't fall out and get into your painting. I absolutely love Silver Black Velvet brushes!  They are well worth their price.  They are a m ..read more

©Christie Drahnak I am so excited for "The 100 Day Project."  The project is 100 days of making!  It is a wonderful challenge to honor yourself and any creative aspirations you may have set aside.  I love that this challenge pushes you to form awesome creative habits and as an added bonus it is a great community builder.  I absolutely love the idea of making creativity a habit!  Finding something I wanted to commit to for 100 days was easy once I just went with what I am passionate about.  WATERCOLOR!!!  Watercolor is my first love.  Watercolor is beyon ..read more

Learning to draw can seem like a big undertaking without knowing what to focus on.   Here are some drawing tips I have found to be very helpful.   At the end of my post I have listed some great resources as well. TIPS Focus and look mostly at the subject you are drawing.  (This gets you to draw what you see instead of what you know)  Only glance at your paper. Seek out shapes. Train yourself to really look at what you're drawing instead of drawing what you know. Step away and look at your drawing in a mirror or take a picture. *****This tip is the one that helps me the mo ..read more

Hi everyone!  I hope you will find this information useful.  I had a very hard time figuring out how to remove the shadow texture from cold pressed watercolor paper.  Here is what I now do. My scanner is a Canon 9000F MarkII Scan the image twice, once right side up and one upside down. Rotate the upside down one 180 degrees so it is right side up. Add both images to Photoshop. Select both layers Rasterize all layers Then auto align both layers Set the top layers opacity to about 50% and merge down Edit if needed ..read more

Thank you so much for all the likes on Facebook and follows on Instagram!!!! In honor of hitting 400 on Instagram and 200 on Facebook, I am doing a giveaway of one of my original watercolor portraits! To qualify you just have to have liked my facebook page, followed me on instagram, done a post on my art on instagram and or subscribed to my blog!  http://www.christiedrahnak.com/blog/ https://www.facebook.com/christiedrahnakart If you would like a chance to win just comment below and let me know what you did to enter. You will be entered one time for each action listed above....that i ..read more