Living la vie en rose

Filipino Christmas Theme Greeting Cards for SALE !!!

Seeing some people already starting to buy again my Filipino / Pinoy Christmas theme greeting cards online reminded me that it’s that time of the year to post them again! They are still available on my online shop: https://riosebastian.com/shop/ and on Zazzle (with 20% to 50% discount at the moment).

My Filipino theme Christmas Greeting Cards featuring prints of my original watercolor artworks

Zazzle is available in the following countries: USA, The UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. Just don’t forget to click on the correct country in the options (you can see it on the top-right corner of the page, the globe icon).

Maraming salamat at Maligayang Pasko sa lahat!

art, travel, updates, watercolor, youtube

Watercolor Painting of Santorini

November 6, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

Finally, after almost two years, I managed to travel outside of France once again. My family and I stayed in the lovely island of Santorini in Greece for a week during the school holiday. We stayed in this beautiful apartment in Pyrgos, a quiet area in the middle of the island, away from the bustle of the touristy areas of Oia and Fira.

We had a lovely view of the sea, some of the islands, and the mountains from the balcony of our Airbnb apartment. The view, and the Bougainvillea flowers at the entrance of the apartment inspired me to paint plein air on the balcony, one day, when I had the occasion to take a break from our usual walks.

I had so much fun, and felt so relaxed doing this watercolor painting of a scenery in Santorini. It was actually inspired by this picture of myself standing under the lush and lovely Bougainvillea of our Airbnb apartment. I just edited it a bit to make it look more interesting in the painting.

Hope you are all having a fun week. Thanks for dropping by! Cheers!

art, watercolor, youtube

Watercolor Painting of My Birthday Bouquet

October 24, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

The hubs and the daughter surprised me with an armful of flowers last weekend. It was so gorgeous, I was inspired to paint it.

It was not only gorgeous, it smelled heavenly as well. For the simple, loose floral watercolor demo, I just used my Schmincke Horadam watercolor palette, Fabriano cold-pressed watercolor paper (300 gsm) and my trusty Da Vinci Casaneo travel brush, size 8. I had so much fun doing this. And also, had some nice thoughts to share while I was at it.

Like I always say, watercolor painting is very relaxing and therapeutic. Even if you do not know how to paint, just watching a video on watercolor painting is enough relaxation already. But why not give it a try? There’s nothing to lose. 🙂

Hope you’re having a fun weekend.

Thanks for dropping by! 🙂

art, updates, watercolor, youtube

Quick, Loose and Relaxing Watercolor Demo

October 3, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

Hello, everyone! I’ve just recently posted another YT video while I still can. As you know, tomorrow marks the start of my Master’s Degree classes. I’m taking MSc in Data Engineering for Artifical Intelligence, btw. I could not stress that enough because this will greatly affect my schedule. I probably wouldn’t have as much time on SocMed anymore. So, yay?… or nay. Also, I’m so proud of getting into this class and this school in Paris, I just couldn’t stop talking about it. LOL. Sorry about that.

Anyway, this post is about my new Youtube post. I will try my very best to be able to still upload a post once a week. But maybe I will end up doing it once a month, or maybe even less.

So here is the usual loose and quick watercolor doodle that I’ve posted on Youtube, I keep saying.

Here, I used my Holbein watercolor pigments, my Silverbrush Black Velvet brush, etchr lab’s The Perfect Sketchbook and this cute palette by Portable Painter Micro. I also talked a lot in this video (at least in the captions). More than usual. I get like this sometimes when I’m stressed out. It’s more difficult for me to talk about my anxieties in person. I do it better in writing, and seemingly, even way better in Youtube videos. LOL.

Anyway, hope you enjoy my video. And if you did, you know the drill. 😉

Cheerios!

art, watercolor, youtube

Watercolor Painting Demo – Okra Plant

September 26, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

This morning, I was just looking at my Okra plants, and I was filled with so much joy when I saw one of my plants with more than one flower for the first time. Just when I thought I had already harvested the last Okra fruit from all my plants! 🙂

I never really liked Okra as a kid, even as an adult, to be honest. But I fell in-love with the plant, and most especially the flowers! I didn’t know Okra flowers were so beautiful. They have a bit of resemblance with Hibiscus flowers, which of course, I later found out, was due to the fact that they are from the same plant family.

So, here is a video of my Watecolor painting demo of my Okra plant. I used Schmincke Horadam watercolor pigments for this painting, and my Lamali Indigo sketchbook. And of course, my Silver Brush Black Velvet brushes.

I have enjoyed doing this loose watercolor painting so much. The flower could’ve been better but I’m still quite happy with the end result. Also, it’s always such a therapeutic and relaxing experience to paint with watercolor.

If you enjoyed watching this video, please remember to hit the like and subscribe button.

Thanks for dropping by and have a fun weekend! 🙂

art, events,gatherings,occasions, travel, updates, watercolor, youtube

Youtube 100 Subscribers, Master’s Degree, Travels, and Other Updates

September 18, 2021September 18, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

Hello, everyone! It’s been a long time since I last made an update. My family and I went traveling for half a month in the Northwestern region of France last month. We were trying to make the most out of the seemingly very few “sunny” days of summer this year. It has been sooo rainy and windy. It felt more like autumn than summer.

Anyways, I was surprised this morning to find this email from Youtube:

Just when I was about to give up on this channel… hope to find more time for videos soon!

It’s been a long time since I last updated my Youtube art channel. I was surprised to find that I have actually been getting more subscribers. It was such a pleasant surprise. I do hope to be able to post more videos soon. I will try my very best. Although, I am going to be really very, very busy starting next month.

I have actually applied to a Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence. I managed to get accepted in the two schools here in France where I have sent my application. I chose the one whose campus is in Paris and Nice. But I’ll be taking live online classes since I live in Toulouse. As you know, my day job is actually IT-related, not the arts. I have decided that I am just going to keep doing art as a hobby, not as a main source of my bread and butter. Maybe someday. Maybe I just might be able to find a happy mix of art and IT, like maybe something along the lines of NFT’s… maybe. But for now, I’d like to focus on Artificial Intelligence coz I believe, there is a lot of opportunities there. The possibilities are infinite. 😉

As for my travels, my family and I went on a Food Trip Road Trip holiday going from Toulouse to the Northwest of France. It was quite tiring, but nevertheless, wonderful trip to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary this year. We saw a lot of nice places and dined in Michelin-starred restaurants. I think I will write more about this in my travel blog.

Continue reading →

art, Piano

Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal Piano Cover

June 14, 2021July 1, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

This classic piece by the great Ernani Cuenco always reminds me of Lola Haide, my landlady back in the dorm in Manila in the early 2000’s. She would play the original version so beautifully on her old German piano almost every morning. It always gets me in a very good mood waking up to this song as my alarm. It is also what inspired me to study the piano. But then I moved out of the country in 2007, so I stopped playing.

I have been self-studying the piano again since the start of this year (2021). The version that I am playing is a shortened and simplified arrangement of Digna Agra Roxas. This piece is probably way above my level but I tried very hard to give it justice with my playing, having practiced more than a month to arrive at this speed. 😁

By the way, the ear cuff I’m wearing in the video thumbnail is that famous Miss Universe (Catriona Gray) ear cuff (replica bought from etsy) inspired by the Philippine flag. I have actually updated the video with a more recent one where I have incorporated the use of the sustain pedal in my practice. I’m not sure if I was doing it correctly, though. I just tried to make some notes sound legato and louder in some parts of the song. Any advice from piano experts out there is very much welcome! 🙂 Also, it’s best to listen to it with a better speaker than the mobile phone or laptop’s internal speaker. Even the iPhone earbuds already make the sound a lot better. 😉 But I do know that I really need to get an acoustic piano if I want to improve… and a teacher. Well, someday… someday.

In the meantime, I thought it’d be fun to play this piece in perfect time to commemorate the 123rd anniversary of Philippine Independence.

Thanks for watching and I do hope you enjoyed listening to this Original Pilipino Music as much as I did.

art, events,gatherings,occasions, Friends, travel, updates, watercolor

Plein Air Watercolor Painting in Gruissan, France

June 12, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

Every year, my artist friends and I would take a short road trip to a nearby village in the South of France for a plein air water color session and to chill.

I was very happy with our choice of location this year — the Plage des Chalets, which is the setting of the movie, “Betty Blue”, or “37.2° le matin” as it is known in France. I’ve heard it is also a location of one of Leonardo di Caprio’s movies, but I couldn’t seem to find which one it is. Let me know in the comments if you know which one.

Anyway, here is a short video of our trip to Plage des Chalets and the pink salt mine (yes, “pink”, that’s right!) of Le salin de l’île Saint-Martin. We had a lovely time there. Hope you enjoy watching! And if you did, please give the “like” and “subscribe” button a hit.

Have a lovely summer weekend! 🙂

art, watercolor

Watercolor Painting Tutorial Beach Scene

May 17, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

Hello! If you’re like me, who couldn’t wait for summer and is terribly missing the beach, here’s an inspiring and relaxing loose watercolor painting tutorial of a beach scene (a photo I took) in Coron, Palawan, Philippines from 2010.

For this watercolor tutorial / painting demo, I used M. Graham watercolors, the set of five pigments. I like painting with a limited color palette, it keeps everything harmonious, uncluttered and pleasing to the eyes. But don’t be fooled by the term, “limited”. It doesn’t mean that you are using just five colors. If you’re interested on how you can get more out of these five colors by mixing them, you can watch another video that I’ve created just for that.

Watercolor painting is very relaxing and therapeutic. Even if you do not know how to paint, just watching a watercolor painting in process coupled with some chill music, for me, is relaxing enough.

Thanks for watching and please don’t forget to like my videos and hit the subscribe button. Have a great week! 🙂

art, shop, watercolor

Mothers Day Greeting Cards – Watercolor Artwork Prints

May 1, 2021May 2, 2021by RioLeave a Comment

On the occasion of Mother’s Day, I thought it would be fun to create and sell some watercolor artwork prints for Mother’s Day Greeting cards.

This is my favorite among the cards I’ve created. I had so much fun doing this. I’ve enjoyed how sketchy this painting feels. Click here to buy this card.

These are original watercolor artworks by yours truly, printed on high quality greeting card paper. I have hand-painted these beauties and made some enhancements on Procreate.

This was my first time ever to create Mother’s Day greeting cards and I totally enjoyed it. Hope you like my creations, and if you do, click here to get card on the left, and here to get the one on the right.

If you liked what you see here, do go ahead and visit my shop on zazzle. I think they have a discount going on right now. Also, don’t forget to use the correct domain name (country) where you are located.

Speaking of Mother’s Day cards, if you would like to try to create a simple DIY watercolor Mother’s Day card, I’ve created a Youtube video for it: