November 2021

UPDATE: I have recently added more designs on the shop:

First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to all these people who have been buying my Christmas cards, and other gift items on the shop. I wish I could send them a personal thank you letter. I find it very touching that people from across the globe appreciate my artworks.

Thank you all, kind people for supporting my shop!

It has really inspired me to keep painting and keep doing this part-time, small hobby that gives me so much pleasure. And the pleasure is just multiplied a hundred times over when I see people appreciating my humble work. I can’t thank you enough!

And so here I was this weekend, trying to eke out a teensy weensy portion of my free time to do some painting and update my shop. I hope you like my new designs:

Pasko Paksiw Filipino Christmas greeting card

Pasko – Paksiw – Pasko is a tongue twister in the Philippines. Paksiw is a local dish with fish and coconut vinegar in a soup. I really miss it. It’s been more than a decade since I last had one!

Tuyo is dried fish. I’m not sure how to translate it in English but the fish is usually either Tulingan or Tawilis in the Tagalog-speaking regions. In the South, there are other varieties of fishes they use for Tuyo. Tuyo literally translates to “dry” in English. It is another one of my favorite dishes, especially for breakfast, much to the chagrin of my husband and other foreign friends who do not appreciate the smell of it. 😀

I was inspired to paint a Tropical Christmas theme because I have been terribly missing the warm tropical beaches of my home country. It’s been years since I was last in a real warm beach. This artwork was mostly done in Procreate, except for the starfishes, which were all done in watercolor.

— END OF UPDATE —

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!

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.