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Workshop Alvaro Castagnet, day 3
Today we were to paint again in Valletta. Alvaro first went to Baracca Garden, a garden that overlooks the Three Cities. It was windy and Alvaro hesitated, he decided we would paint there later. We walked a bit into the town and Alvaro found a small square. He sat down and showed figures. He made a quick sweep of the brush, a messy stroke. Then he put heads there and painted bones there and suddenly there was a group of people. Figures should be painted, not outlined. Exercise, do 200 per day. He also showed that each image should contain five degrees of strength, from white to darkest dark. You must never…
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Workshop Alvaro Castagnet, day 2
Today we went to Mdina, Malta’s former capital. It is an old town with narrow streets, the only place in Malta where there are not so many cars. Alvaro painted a street with a church backlit.His first wash included hot and cold, that’s important. After it dried, he painted dark gray buildings, which surprised many, but he explained that it was backlit.The buildings were painted quickly and in one sweep, you can barely see the border between them. He also put in a cloud by the church which at first looked very dark but then faded and became absolutely perfect. He tinted the ground and placed two cyclists who happened to pass by, one…
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Workshop Alvaro Castagnet, day 1
Malta on 24 September 2016. First we got to meet Alvaro in a conference room at the hotel. We were about 20 participants from different parts of the world who sat quietly and listened to one of the world’s best watercolor painters. Alvaro talked for almost an hour about watercolor, how to paint, colors, what to think about and much more. Afterwards, I handed him my book, Obsessed with Watercolor. I had promised him it because I got to use some of his pictures in the book. Then we took the bus to Valletta and we walked into the city center. Alvaro wanted an open place that was also shaded out of consideration…
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Alvaro Castagnet: Accomplished Ambassador in a Thousand Cities
Reflections of water pooling in a rainy street in Madrid, smoke coming from a kitchen in Singapore, or the long shapes shadows of cars at sunset in New York are all moments that Álvaro Castagnet feels inspired by and depicts magnificently through his atmospheric water colour paintings. Having visited so many cities throughout his distinguished artistic career, he manages to extract that city’s vibrations and deftly translates these vibes into pigment and water for all to enjoy. This passion for the seemingly ordinary is one of the reasons that Álvaro flies around the world giving lectures, workshops, and seminars in the field he masters: watercolor. This technique, which is not…
