Weekend Artsy Fartsy Afternoon!

Hello all! Hope you had an awesome weekend! This is long overdue post, but here are a few photos from my artsy fartsy watercolor-rubber stamping-calligraphy afternoon with my cousins and my super artsy niece at Cafe Boheme in B.F. Homes, one of the local cafes in Aguirre Avenue. I absolutely love this place. They play great music, they have amazing desserts, the staff are really nice and it's one of the cafes in B.F. that has good coffee. 

A few weeks ago, I promised my niece that we'd have an artsy afternoon together. My sister was telling me how excited Sofia was about our artsy date,  so I freed up one of my Sundays and spent a cozy afternoon teaching her some watercolor tips and tricks and introducing my cousins Venisse, Via and Bea to calligraphy. 

The artsy fartsy crew!

Sofia trying out the white oil pastel masking tip that I taught her. Basically, you can use a crayon or oil pastel to mask a white space and draw an image, then paint watercolor over it to show the lines. Since crayon/oil pastel is resistant to watercolor, you can make tons of neat stuff using this technique. In this photo, Sofia wrote her name and drew a couple of cute little flowers. :)

Sofia was on a roll that afternoon, filling index cards one after the other with drawings and paintings. I could really see a lot of my younger self in her--she just has more fashion sense that I never really had (or will ever have). She was wearing funky knee high boots that weekend! OOTD worthy, I must say!

 My cousin Venisse, trying her hand at calligraphy, writing her name and a bunch of lyrics. I taught her how to use the oblique holder, and how to use the nib holder at an angle. 

 Bea, using the straight holder and practicing her capital letters.

 Via making a watercolor greeting card!

I never had anyone teach me calligraphy so I only taught my cousins the things that I learned from experience. It wasn't really a methodical step 1, step 2, step 3 session but more of a get-a-feel-of-what-it's-like-and-i'll-teach-you-how-i-do-it session. The most important thing for me is to let them experience what it's like to write with a dip pen and hopefully they get more interested in calligraphy.



I also did a bunch of Christmas cards that I can give out together with my gifts for the holiday season. Ever since I learned calligraphy, I've been doing handmade Christmas cards every year. Anything handmade makes the gift extra special and I've been having a ball with watercolor blending and making wreaths for my holiday card collection.

It was such a super fun afternoon and I especially enjoyed teaching the girls what I knew. We started at 3 pm and adjourned at 6:30 but we didn't notice the time at all! Sofia was actually still very eager to continue well after dinner but called it a day because she has school on the following day.  We agreed to make this a regular bonding session and I can't wait for our next artsy fartsy afternoon session!