Colored Hobby

A simple activity that temporarily brings us out of the routinary conventional way of thinking and adherence to set goals will definitely relax the body and calm the soul. This is the fundamental of Zen. These activities will definitely recharge the body and strengthen the mind.

The Corporate decided to look for activities that may take people out of the daily stress into something that can be positively indulged into with tangible output that could be laughed at, enjoyed, and maybe put up as a souvenir of those moments of relaxation. We decided to talk to Mr. Danny Castillon-Doce. He is one of the country’s better-known watercolor artists and exponents. He is a member of both the International Watercolor Society Philippines and the Philippine Guild of Watercolorists. He is a participant in the different local as well as international watercolor painting exhibits. He knows his art and willing enough to share the skills for people to develop and enjoy their innate artistic talents. He is a qualified maestro and watercolor painting is a good channel to calm the soul.

The Corporate is aware of the common misgiving among ‘non-artists’ that painting in any platform requires inherent artistic talent. We presumed that it requires ‘artistic eyes’ to see through the combinations of lines, circles, and shades to be able to transform what we see into art forms. We are aware too that watercolor painting is the most challenging medium because of the words ‘splash’ and ‘untamable’. These words were demonstrated by a color applied on a wet paper spreading uncontrollably.

Mr. Danny Castillon-Doce explained that the fundamental skills in painting could be learned and shared. The art in itself is a form of self-expression. Danny assured us that nobody could be wrong when we express ourselves. Expressions of thoughts in an art form will definitely be fun and would be definitely something to cherish in the future. This medium of self-expression may provide us with peace of mind. Zen.

The tools and fundamentals are simple. A few pieces of pencils, coloring brushes, and watercolor give you the go. The motivation to paint starts with a dot on the paper and the rests will be lines, circles, and shadings. Simple indeed but of course there are several types of lines like straight lines, crooked lines, lightly shaded lines, medium shade lines, and dark shade lines. Circles vary from perfect to oblong and different types of shading.

Mr. Danny Castillon-Doce demonstrated to us how the lines, circles, and shading depicted on the art paper the coffee cup that we see. It is called simple drawing. We definitely do not have the ‘artistic eye’ but over coffee Danny was able to impart to us that indeed the skills can be learned and shared.

Danny told us that there are three basic watercolor painting techniques. These are:

1. Dry on Dry – both paper and brush are dry;

2. Wet on Dry – the brush is wet and the paper is dry; and,

3. Wet on Wet – this is the more challenging because both brush and paper are wet and ‘splash’ comes in.

Danny was accommodating enough to demonstrate and explain to us the actual rendition of actual watercolor portrait painting. He did it with ease as a learned does but reassured us that our lack of basic know-how causes our unease. The basic know-how can be learned and shared.

The process of learning the watercolor painting is definitely engaging. The watercolor paintings Mr. Danny Castillon-Doce allowed us to share with the readers, to say the least, are motivational.

Self-expression through lines and colors may usher peace within.