Milagros 9 month painting ( part 1 )

Well with the birth of my beautiful little girl Milagros, papi had to transform his studio into her room. But all that changed in November when we bought our 1st house. Big enough for all of us +1 god willing ;) and my own studio space! Now that I'm slowly setting up my new space, I started on this new painting...Milagros 9 Months ( Acrylic on Canvas 30in x 30in )

KAC Plein Air Workshop @ Kirkland Marina

Week 2 of my 4 week Plein Air Workshop at the Kirkland Arts Center. We meet at the Kirkland Marina on a beautiful day, started overcast but then the sun showed its glorious face. Was able to paint a little while my students worked on their paintings. Walked around and helped with technique, but these ladies pick things up quickly. Excited to see what we come up with next week!

Watercolor Textures Demo and Workshop Information

Would like to thank everyone who attended my Textures Demos this weekend at DS Bellevue. If you liked the demo the Workshop will be loads more fun and I will go in depth on the techniques I covered and more I didn't get a chance to get to.

Watercolor Textures Workshop - DS Bellevue Sunday August 8th, 11:30am t0 4:30pm ONLY $75

Creating a sketch.

What makes a sketch a sketch? Well for me its a quick study or studies on a particular subject. I try to work quickly and let my feelings and instincts take over, not worrying to much about color or value.
From this point I start to put a little bit of thought into the next step which is working the middle values. Keeping in mind that she is a baby and not to over work the values, the more you layer the more you age the subject.
Now for the dark values in the eyes, cheeks and lips. Framing the face with Sepia in the cap it starts to come together.
The last few steps are the details, eye lashes, and a bit of line work to keep it together. Add Manganese Blue in the background to adds a cool value and punches up the warm values in the face.

Done! From start to finish this sketch took me 15 mins.

Happy Brush :)

With the birth of my lil girl Milagros, papi has been busy spending as much time as possible with her. One day I picked out a new Moleskin Watercolor Book and with brush in hand stood over my beautiful lil girl and painted her while she slept. Needless to say picking up the brush and putting paint on paper felt great.

Now with my classes and workshops starting up again, time to bust off the paints and brushes and get back to work. For workshop and class info please visit www.artofche.com. My goal is to post at least twice a week, going to try hard to keep painting everyday but as some of you know once at the gym I like to hit people ;) So keep your hands up and chin down!

che out~

Building textures in Watercolor

This is a demonstration I did during my class about building textures in your paintings to add a bit of chaos into your landscapes. Just a bit of texture or splattering paint will add interest and movement.

Look for a Workshop on "Building Textures in Watercolor" on August 8th at Daniel Smith Bellevue.

Sketch of the Day