I present to you my elegant artistic space, which combines my working art studio with a corner for clients and finished oil works, available for purchase.

Here, over a cup of aromatic coffee, you can purchase original oil paintings, as well as gift vouchers of various designs.

You will also have the opportunity to take a peek at “where the magic is made” and view started canvases in progress – they can be requested in advance, even before they are completely ready and before they are published on the website and on social media.

Continue reading Acrista Art Studio + Clients Area at Acrista Cafe.

I believe that creating something meaningful, impactful, and valuable requires time, patience, depth, inspiration, and authenticity.

The first large painting from the ballet series was created in 2018. I titled it “Among the Stars”, inspired by one of the beautiful poems by Radosveta Avramova – Caribiana. That title eventually gave its name to this entire exhibition.

In the following years, I continued developing studies for more ballet-themed paintings, as well as several female nude figures with surrealistic elements. Gradually, the concept for the exhibition began to take shape. For me, it has been a long journey and an exploration of my inner universe—a reflection of the delicate sensitivity with which I perceive the world.

Continue reading About the exhibition “Among the Stars” at Acrista Cafe.

I strongly believe, that the right people and resources find you at the right moment for you, and I really appreciate this synchronicity of the universe :o). Therefore, I am not surprised that it is while I am preparing for my exhibition that I came across the first video about Rick Rubin and his ideas about the creative process.

Rick Rubin is a record producer, who, over the years has worked with musicians such as Adele, Eminem, The Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, Slayer, Metallica, Johny Cash and has won more than one Grammy award. Being an interesting character, his approach to creation is also extremely unusual, but infinitely effective and close to the world of the creator.

Continue reading Rick Rubin and his book “The Creative Act” at Acrista Cafe.

Life, they say, is what you make of it.

This year, after a long period of hustling, I finally feel that I am choosing what is best for me, with self-love, with the full knowledge that my choices and approach to work and life in general, although desired by many, are not particularly popular, except perhaps among digital nomads and here and there the intrepid self-employed like myself.

Yes, I am more of a nomad this summer than ever before. For me, breaking away from absolute identification with work gives me freedom, which is a path to enrichment, charging, expanding horizons, exploring the world, gaining another perspective on myself.

Continue reading The Gifts of Summer at Acrista Cafe.

Today I present to you an exceptional Spanish artist whose work I first saw a few years ago in his hometown of Valencia. In fact, one of the main reasons I chose Madrid for our nomadic month was my desire to visit the Museo Sorolla in the Spanish capital. Therefore, on a hot June day, we walk to the wonderful house with a garden and with great pleasure immerse ourselves in its world, in search of inspiration, charging and enrichment.

Who is Joaquin Sorolla

Born in 1863 in Valencia, Joaquin Sorolla lost his parents as a child and together with his sister were raised by his aunt and uncle.

Continue reading Joaquin Sorolla – The Master of Light at Acrista Cafe.

I present to you a project, the implementation of which brought me great pleasure in all its aspects – from communicating with the client, through the creation process, to the arrangement of the picture in the interior. “Paint Me Love” is a commissioned oil painting that I created for a specific location and is my largest commission of a female figure to date. The whole project lasted one year.

When we started discussing the commission, the client and her husband had already purchased several of my other paintings. She was already familiar with the process of commissioning a painting (the article The Artistic Challenge can be read here and the rest of the details of how to commission an Acrista Art painting are in the FAQ on acrista.com) and we went straight to discussing which series / painting of mine we would be the inspiration for hers.

Continue reading Creating “Paint me Love” – commission artwork at Acrista Cafe.

The art world is full of clich?s, but it’s never too late to learn something new. The YouTube channel Great Art Explained is proof of that and is a precious art find.

In general, I am not a huge fan of “explained” series, but this one turned out to be very different. In it, curator and gallerist James Payne focuses on a particular famous painting or artist and makes an in-depth analysis of the work / artist, placing them in the context of the times in which they were created / worked, the family they grew up in, the political and social environment.

Continue reading “Great Art Explained” at Acrista Cafe.

Over the past few years, I have observed with sadness and weariness that the efforts I make on a daily basis to maintain the Facebook page fall far short of the desired results, needed for me to function as a freelance artist.

As a person, who does almost everything by myself, this means I spend a huge amount of time, energy and mental resources figuring out “what to post each day” to keep the page “alive”. I invest in expensive art products, photo sessions, video scripts, video shooting, video editing, planning posts, writing texts for them… And all this only reaches my top 10 fans (thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support ), out of all the 20K that have liked and/or followed my page, because that’s how the algorithm “works”.

Continue reading Out of the Matrix at Acrista Cafe.

Acrista Art Calendar 2024 is now in pre-sale! It turned out to be a real little art jewel, as it was intended.

As I have mentioned more than once, producing a quality elegant product is not an easy task. That’s why we create calendars with my paintings every few years :).

This time we started already in July with work on the concept, the selection of paintings, the choice of the font for the calendar and on the design, we continued in August with the selection of paper and creating a sample, for a visualisation of how the calendar will look, in September we received offers from printing houses and discussed what kind of packaging we can use… and here we are, it’s almost the end of October and we’re getting ready to go to press, and then it’ll be time to send out and bring joy.

Continue reading Acrista Art Calendar 2024 is now available at Acrista Cafe.

Those of you who follow my work may know, that this March marks 20 years since I created the website acrista.com and the Acrista Art brand was born. The first half of this period I spent mastering the soft pastels as a material and the artist who greatly influenced me during this time and was a sort of virtual mentor for me, was the pastelist Harley Brown.

I came across him after subscribing to International Artist magazine, where Harley had regular articles, sharing wisdom on the artist’s life and priceless practical advices on the creative process.

Continue reading Harley Brown – soft pastel artist at Acrista Cafe.

“The thing we label as talent is not a single ability. It is a complex mixture of motive, curiosity, receptivity, intelligence, sensitivity, good teaching, perseverance, timing, sheer luck, and countless other things.”

“Serious painting is not something that can be learned casually. You must be willing to sacrifice many other things.”

“I regard my disasters as invitations to learn more.”

“Art happens in the mind of the person seeing them.”

“Don’t reject difficult ideas simply because you fail to grasp them immediately. Put them on hold until you do, then decide.

Continue reading Quotes from “Alla Prima”, Richard Schmid at Acrista Cafe.

Scandinavian interiors are known for their simplicity and lightness.

The selection of artworks in them also reflects this trend – mostly black and white photographs, graphics and prints, often behind glass, with light frames, arranged in gallery walls.

However, today’s article is dedicated to the wooden shelves for arranging pictures, which are so popular in Scandinavian interiors.

They are offered under a variety of names: art shelves, skirting boards, shelves or picture/photo stands. More importantly, they can be used in almost all rooms in the home (and why not the office), and allow arranging not only pictures and photographs, but also small decorative objects: miniature flower pots, cards, plastics, candles, lighting.

Continue reading How to arrange artwork on scandi shelves at Acrista Cafe.

Every time we have an occasion to give joy, we are looking for an idea for an original gift that is special, non-standard, memorable. For me, a painting can be all these things, and at the same time bring a unique emotion and a personal message. It can become a colorful accent in the interior, be it in the home or the office.

Give yourself a gift

It very often happens that clients come to my studio wanting to purchase a painting as a gift… to themselves. These moments are indescribably satisfying for me as an artist.

Continue reading Choosing an artwork as a gift? Always a wonderful idea. at Acrista Cafe.

An inevitable part of arranging paintings is their correct lighting.

Wether an artwork needs directed lighting depends on the availability of enough daylight, and its direction. Sometimes it is perfectly enough to emphasise the colours and the details in the painting. But in most cases our homes and offices lack enough lighting for this purpose, and even more rarely hits internal spaces like the hallways for example, where we often exhibit paintings as well. And, if in the evening you would like the paintings to continue to be artistic accents, you have to consider having them lighted, and on a separate switch.

Continue reading How to choose a right lighting for artworks at Acrista Cafe.

The artworks I create for a specific occasion (anniversary, new home, birthday, wedding etc.) or for a specific premise (home or office), as requested by a client, I call commissions.

Let me make two very important clarifications – in my practice painting commissions are not portraits of real people made from reference photo (I explicitly don’t do such things), and they are also not copies of other paintings, mine or anyone else’s (if you want a copy of a particular painting of mine – you can always order a Limited Edition Print).

Over the years I have various cases of commissioned artworks – sometimes the interior design gravitated around a larger painting, that is the focus point and acts as a central piece in the interior.

Continue reading Commissioned artwork – the artistic challenge at Acrista Cafe.

In a search for more depth, contemplativeness and focus, and generally a slower and more aware lifestyle, this year everything seems to be happening more slowly with me, somehow inertly and less „visibly“. In these times I am working on two really long and slow projects…

1. A total redesign of the acrista.com website: the aim is for the site to become an actual online gallery, where you could directly purchase original artworks or order prints, and have them delivered anywhere you want. You will be able to log in to your personal account and track your orders, your cumulative discount and lots more.

Continue reading Acrista Art projects in progress at Acrista Cafe.

After I discovered the minimalism as my (desired) way of living, it was just a matter of time to come across the other closely related philosophy: the essentialism. Greg McKeown as its main ideologist shares details in a great deal of interviews and with great sense of humor, but I liked the presentation below, because I find it interesting how you can apply essentialism not only as a person, but as a professional and a company, too.

Some of the ideas:

The disciplined pursuit of less but better

• every 90 days: what is important to me?

Continue reading Essentialism at Acrista Cafe.

Two of the surprises for this year’s birthday were a fun contrast: the first one was a Pocketbook (I have officially joined the e-readers) and the other was two incredible poetry books that captivated me both in content and in polygraphy.

If I were to describe Atticus’ style (which, like Banksy, expresses themselves solely through their art, without sharing their identity), perhaps “modern haiku” would come very close to my sensations, though not all of the poems are short. As for the books – this is how I imagine books must look today in order to want to own them on paper in this digital age: a masterly piece of work, with attention to detail, varied and original design, flawless quality and so tactile I wish to go through their pages again and again.

Continue reading Atticus’ poetry at Acrista Cafe.

I had long been waiting for a good drama with a love thread and I was so happy that this one didn’t disappoint me… neither as acting and persuasiveness, neither as approach and credibility nor as ending. There was nothing superfluous, nothing cheesy. Even the love triangle cliche was masterfully intertwined with the unusual circumstances of the post-war background.

Well, I don’t have to tell you, that even if this movie turned out to be bad, Alexander Skarsgard would be an excellent reason to stay put in front of the screen. this Swedish semi-god is outrageously attractive, even when speaking in German… but let’s not get carried away

“The Aftermath”is based on Rhidian Brook’s novel of the same name (published in Bulgaria) and with the wonderful music by Martin Phipps.

Continue reading “The Aftermath” at Acrista Cafe.

What an inspiration!

A beautiful music to play while working on my canvases…

Continue reading Norwegian artist Mari Samuelson at Acrista Cafe.

When being in a not-particularly-productive-period, it’s always a little miracle to come across with such a personal, inspiring, meaningful and empowering interview. Thank you, Marie.

*photo image is a video still, copyright belongs to its rightful owners

Continue reading “Dream, Girl” talks to Marie Forleo at Acrista Cafe.

It’s been a while since I have been impressed so thoroughly by an artist – from the chosen medium (enamel paint), from developing technique by trial and error, combining several working places with a gallery, to market positioning, scope (huge canvases delivered worldwide), personal approach (he hand delivers all of his art in the UK) and experimenting with different mediums in addition to paintings – aluminum sculptures, art with cast resin blocks, enamel paint on carbon fiber…

Ed, who creates under the label Swarez, is absolutely self-thought and although he’s often told that ‘this can be painted by my five year old child too’ and ‘he’s not an artist’ with such abstractions, his story is so inspiring that I read thoroughly every page of his website and watched all available video materials on his Youtube channel.

Continue reading Swarez Art at Acrista Cafe.

Killing Eve – this TV show was not even in my watchlist, but I decided to give it a chance and… it’s brilliant! So refreshing and dynamic, on the verge of drama and humor, I really loved it. Now waiting impatiently for the whole second season to come out.

Fargo –  so many stupid, but surviving people in one place – it’s amazing! The first season is my favorite with the brilliant Martin Freeman.

Victoria – another TV show about a British Queen after “The Queen”, but they are so well done, I cannot resist them.

Continue reading March movies selection at Acrista Cafe.

For the generation that is not familiar with the Rocky Balboa sequence, Creed II might be a bit old-school, but it has enough drama with the typical story of the crushed hero who resurrects stronger in order to face fears, enemies and mostly – himself.

For me, Creed II is a remake of Rocky IV made with respect and my sympathies towards Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester are strongly backed-up by the cool soundtrack which is the equivalent of the legendary Eye of the Tiger.

My discovery amidst this sound explosion is the Nigerian-born Brit Jacob Banks whose voice really spoke to me.

Continue reading Creed II at Acrista Cafe.

For me, books have been an especially satiating pleasure since my childhood. Thus I have a ritual for almost every birthday – I gift myself so many books I barely manage to take home. however, lately on several occasions I discovered that I didn’t feel the familiar wild enthusiasm for books and I am struggling to choose even one I want to by.

Whether this is a function of information overload, my filter is getting narrower, the overwhelming abundance on the bookshelves rebuffs me from the onset… I don’t know…

But I do know that when something truly amazing comes up, the delight is absolute.

Continue reading “La part de l’autre” by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt at Acrista Cafe.

I rarely write about mishaps because my focus is on beautiful and creative things, but this time I am going to share an experience for my colleagues (and not only).

The story in brief: I had an order from an international customer for an original painting 80 x 80 cm. To transport the painting to Spain I trusted (as I have done in the past) to Speedy. They lost the shipment somewhere along the way.

The story in details:

• the painting was commissioned by my customers in Barcelona and I started working on it in September 2018
• I finished it at the end of 2018, but I wanted to avoid the Christmas hustle so I decided to send it after the New Year
• on January 11ththe local Speedy courier came to pick it up: with a travel abroad certificate and two invoices to the customer
• a brief side note: for Bulgaria I have been using Econt for years (and I am very happy with their service) and I fill in my bills of landing by myself.

Continue reading About a lost painting at Acrista Cafe.

I set apart this movie from the February movie mix on purpose. Not only because it is European production, but also because it moved me exceptionally.

I admit I knew almost nothing about Astrid Lindgren, although I grew up with Pippy Longstocking, The Brothers Lionheart, Karlson, Ronia the Robber’s Daughterand Emil of Lonneberga. After watching the movie, I saw the rich context explaining why things were the way they were in my favorite childhood books…

the young Astrid (Unga Astrid– the original title of the movie) was overflowing with energy, light and life, but she was “lucky” to be born in a small Swedish town, among manners narrowly bound by religious rules, which did not allow for any frivolity, spontaneityand equality.

Continue reading “Becoming Astrid” at Acrista Cafe.

Bohemian Rhapsody: I am not one of the devoted fans of Queen who compare the movie scene by scene with documentary footage from concerts and interviews. For me the move is exceptionally well made, and the role of Rami Malek is inhumanely difficult and perfectly played given the vast admiration for Freddie Mercury. In the interviews from the movie release interesting facts ‘from the kitchen’ came up, for example, that the first shot scene was the Live Aid concert (!), the work with movement couch, details on make-up and costumes. I would watch it for the second time, so I am looking forward to the 5-hours directors cut.

Continue reading February movie mix at Acrista Cafe.

The last couple of days I realized that this year it’s been ten years (!) since (like so many others) I hooked on the obsession called social networks. Ten years! So many different behaviors appeared, such crazy habits were created… Lately alongside the subject of minimalism which I increasingly recognize as my own, I try to look (on my newsfeed) from a distance, not to succumb to the massive turning into zombies (what was your year in facebook, holly crap). And since I’ve been feeling a long-established tendency for a while, I want to explore it a bit. This tendency is about the feeling that above our heads there is a cover of stiff, compressed air which presses us every day, every minute, continuously.

Continue reading Under pressure at Acrista Cafe.

Challenging to watch, but a must see anyway. About addiction as an all-consuming and devastating black hole. About struggle which is unbearable, ugly and inhumane. About shame, anger and despair. about boundaries, patience and the endlessly stretching matter called love…

And, overall, about the hell of addiction…

I am so glad Steve Carell did not stay in the clich? Of the comedy, but unfolds his talent in the drama. And what can I say about Timothee Chalamet except – this boy is so talented and speaks so meaningfully and mature during his interviews, I cannot wait to see his future projects.

Continue reading “Beautiful Boy” at Acrista Cafe.