Learning Watercolor

Notes from a week-long trip to study with a watercolor master, Alvaro Castagnet.

I took a trip recently to study watercolor with one of the best artists in this medium in the world today, Alvaro Castagnet. His art is absolutely incredible, I own a couple of his works. He is also an excellent teacher, which is a rare combination of skills. The workshop was at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, a great art school in the West. I try to make it there once or twice a year, and I typically do a road trip because I enjoy the western landscape and I don’t have to worry about packing for air travel - I can take as much of my art stuff with me as I want! And mountain bikes, too! This time my husband came with me to ride mountain bike at McDowell Mountain while I was attending the workshop. We usually make this into a 2-day drive each way and stop on the way at our favorite spots to ride bikes or just enjoy the scenery. This time on the way to AZ we stopped at the Death Valley National Park, and on the way back went to the Pacific Coast to Santa Monica and Malibu where we rode mountain bikes in the coastal mountains.

Here are some of Alvaro’s works that he brough to the workshop:

While I am largely a self-taught artist, I make effort (and spend money) on at least some in-person classes because there is something intangible that transpires, and it is not replicated by an on-line/video exercise. While I can recite the theory of values - hues - temperature - edges - dark/light design - line quality - brushwork, etc. just as well as any instructor, studying with someone you consider a great artist is a whole different level of understanding. This time, I think I really tried to work as much from imagination (vision) as from reference. More from vision and less from the reference. The reference (whether a photo or a live thing) is never going to be as powerful as your vision. I think that was the main point I took away from Alvaro’s workshop.

A couple of my workshop pieces:

And some sketches from the road:

Death Valley

Morning fog in Malibu

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