I was hoping to make it back midsummer, but had to put the trip on hold. So, Greece and my Greek family are on my mind.
This is the finished painting I did at the JB Duke Hotel's Artful Evenings.
11.25x15 in watercolor on paper (Arches, Daniel Smith, Holbein)
Cycladic buildings and church with a distant view of the sea and another island in the background
Santorini on my mind... I was probably on my way to taking a friend to watch the sunset when I caught this view on camera. It's my 2nd or 3rd attempt at capturing it in watercolor. Something about the light, colors, and strong geometry really capture my eye.
#watercolor #santorini #greece #art
Loose watercolor painting of an open Chinese pavilion with red lanterns catching the sunlight. There is a staircase leading up to it
Another watercolor I just finished. The reference photo was from my trip to China in 2014 after my dad died. I needed to get away to come to terms with the immediate grief. I remember walking up this path and being mesmerized by the light going through the lanterns and the pavilion.
#watercolor
Loose watercolor of a bowl full of apples in varying shades
I really like how this still life of apples came out. The colors and the light just really speak to me.
I should jokingly call it How you like them apples to also honor my time in Boston 😆🍎🍏
Watercolor on paper, quarter sheet (11.25x15 in)
#watercolor #stilllife #apples #art
Two sketchbooks, one with a teal MCM building and the other with a watercolor and ink sketch of a tall building surrounded by other buildings
A little urban sketching this morning in Durham cc @ncartmeets.com
#urbansketching #usk
Ink and wash of a typical Santorini domed church with a square and people walking in the foreground
Happy accidents? I was doing a demo for my class and thought my pen was waterproof. It was not. The class gasped in horror.
It wasn't planned, but I ended up with this beautiful, impressionistic ink and wash of a church in Oia, Santorini.
#watercolor #ink #urbansketching #santorini #greece #art
This is a great idea. I have the same struggles with greens though in watercolor
Watercolor painting with foreground beach dunes in shadow and a dramatic sky above
Quick beach sunset study
#watercolor
A bunch of multicolor circles barely touching each other and the colors leak between them
Painting kissing circles in watercolor is always so meditative. I was reminded of that while teaching my urban sketching class the basics of watercolor. Need to do this more often.
#watercolor #art
I got a request to set up this painting as a print - you can now collect it in various sizes and with/without framing!
shop.sia.studio/products/sun...
P.S. The original is also available though not as a listing. DM if interested.
I painted this atmospheric carnation from my imagination in 2021 during the pandemic. It was a little escape from the isolation.
I just set it up in my shop on request. You can now collect it unframed or matted and framed. Free US shipping. #watercolor #art
shop.sia.studio/products/car...
Loose watercolor painting of sunflowers in a white and blue ceramic vase
Another painting I finished up on Sunday. I really like how the vase turned out
#watercolor
Loose watercolor of three onions (white, yellow, red) on a table casting shadows
I really like how this onion still life came together. It's from the first week of JJ Jiang's watercolor course. Finally finished it on Sunday. I'm definitely going to have to take some of my own onion reference photos and repeat the exercise. 🧅
#watercolor
I'm attempting to do it solely in watercolor but I might relax that rule as I progress.
I'm not used to painting this small, but I like it. So I'll probably choose to crop in close on many of the prompts.
I made sketchbook like her, with just over half a sheet of Arches. Her post:
Loose watercolor painting of a hand
Loose watercolor painting of low top converse
Started a 28-day challenge partially based on Samantha Dion Baker's February drawing challenge. I loved the idea and mixed in her prompts with my own. I'm going to call it my 2026 self portrait.
1st two days painted from life:
1. My hand
2. My favorite shoes
#watercolor #sketchbook #selfportrait
Backlit daffodil with white outer petals and pale yellow inner trumpet
Backlit daffodil with white outer petals and coral-tipped inner trumpet
I'm a big gardener and have been converting more and more of my lawn to native meadows to support insect and bird wildlife... but I still have a few non-natives like these bright, happy daffodils which are such a great herald of spring arriving.
Backlit daffodil with white outer petals and bright yellow 6-count inner petals
Three of my daffodil varieties are now blooming. I'm so excited for spring. If you don't know yet, nature is a huge inspiration for me in life and in my art.
#gardening #daffodils
Ink sketch of a small house with a tree in front. In a sketchbook with a beer next to it.
Sketching the house across the way while waiting for the meetup to begin
#urbansketching #usk #art
Very excited that I seemed to have passed my instructor interview for Durham Arts Council. Already started teaching for Orange County Arts Commission.
My tech career was so much more rich because I both coded and taught, so I'm really excited to do this in art as well.
To teach is to learn.
Pencil sketch of a city street with gross l notes on the side about how to paint it
Value/composition studies for some new paintings I'm going to work on
I sometimes skip this step and then regret it later. Teaching this has reminded me. 😅
Ink and watercolor wash sketch/painting of the Acropolis with some trees in the foreground
Charcoal sketch of a hotel lobby bar on an easel with a view of the bar in the background
Last night, I was the artist in residence at the JB Duke Hotel. I treated it like an urban sketching event and did a charcoal sketch of the lobby bar.
I still had some time at the end so I did this quick ink and wash of the Acropolis.
#artistresidency #charcoal #ink #watercolor #urbansketching
Close up of one of the prints of Liam
16 limited edition prints, only 6 available (10 reserved). I'm looking for organizations to either donate the prints directly or to sell and then donate the proceeds. Ideally ones that directly aid Liam Conejo Ramos and other families impacted by unjust incarceration and family separation.
So a goon could meet an arrest quota? So a despot could attempt to seem powerful? It's certainly not to make our communities safer.
Multiple linocut prints lined up, all of Liam in his bunny hat. The ink is a pink/cyan mix that looks mostly purple but is also non-homogeneous or broken looking
'A childhood broken for what?'
I created these as a project for Art as Resistance, organized by curated.bywild on IG
As I was contemplating what to make, my heart kept bringing me back to all these children whose lives have been irrevocably changed and traumatized. For what?
#art #resist
national SHUTDOWN FRI JAN 30 NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING. STOP FUNDING ICE.
FYI general strike tomorrow, Friday January 30th.
No work, no school, no shopping.
nationalshutdown.org
I haven't seen it here yet, so posting here (oddly more posts on IG)
Thanks!
Watercolor painting of a wooden door in a whitewashed narrow passage with a large bougainvillea growing over a short tunnel in the passage
Just finished this watercolor painting of a passageway and door in old Emboreio, Santorini. I love wandering through there every time I visit. I'll even capture the same doors over the years and notice their aging or a new coat of paint.
#watercolor #aquarelle #santorini #art #greece
Charcoal portrait of a woman in a hooded winter coat trimmed in fur
Value study for a portrait of my sister Ana 🫂 I can see the errors which is so hard to let go, but it's just a study for the main event and did its job 😅
Charcoal on paper 9x12
#charcoal #portrait #art
Thanks, Álvaro!
