I have been exposed in the visual arts since I was six (6) years of age in my parents' effort to cultivate a multi-talented individual in me.  I clearly remember going to the National Museum in Manila during summer of that year (sorry will not tell! hehe) to attend my drawing and painting class with my cousins.  We sat on the grass field under a shady coconut tree to appreciate nature and pick what to draw or paint.  I always liked painting trees and flowers then.  In high school, I took up Visual Arts as my elective course where I learned other mediums and had my second art exhibit.

I am no stranger to painting using Watercolor as it is my favorite medium.  That's why when Celine of Taal Vista Hotel invited me to attend LifeAfterBreakfast's and Vatel Manila's Watercolor Weekend Getaway, I instantly got thrilled.  What made it all the more exciting was knowing that the participants will be painting flowers.

Watercoloring tools by LifeAfterBreakfast

Craft Carrot's Calligraphy and rubber stamp tools

We started the workshop by introducing ourselves and what our watercolor/painting experience was in the past.  So I shared with the class what you just read above. :)

Participants introduce themselves before the workshop proper

We were given our workshop materials which included watercolor art papers, paint brushes and of course, the watercolor set.

Participants were given their set of watercolor

Watercolor Set and different paintbrushes too!

Watercolor Washes:

1. Flat Wash - covering the entire space with a pigment that's even all throughout by overlapping one stroke to another.
2. Graded Wash - a technique where pigment lightens gradually after every horizontal stroke.
3. Glazed Wash - applying another pigment over an already dried paint which then creates another color when mixed.  
4. Wet in Wet - applying pigment onto wet paper
5. Dry Wash - more pigment is used to create solid strokes

Now, the culmination activity of the Watercolored Flowers workshop.  Could you guess what were we asked to paint?  Correct!  Flowers! :)  Whew!  I was taken aback a bit because I thought, yeah these flowers are very pretty but challenging to paint for sure!  Just look at these lovely dainties:
The moment of truth came when we were asked to pick our flowers and paint them.  Look at the participants picking their flowers.  I bet some of them were like me, who picked not according to the prettiness of the flower but on the easiest ones to draw and paint.  Hihihi! :)
I picked these: Egg Asters and Alstroemeria flowers.  At first I arranged them then took a photo of it using my mobile phone.  The photo on my camera became my still photo of the actual flowers from which I referred to for drawing and painting my work of art!  Naks!
My sons visited their seriously painting mommy and because I have not been this serious about re-learning a craft for such a long time, I thought this moment was deserving to be captured!
Before I present to you my finished masterpiece, let me share too that I had famous classmates!

Racquel Guevarra of BeyondBooksAndWalls

Karrots Nazareno of LiveLoveLolz

Now here's my work of art proudly shown and displayed during my photo op with my teacher Ms. Alessandra Lanot of LifeAfterBreakfast.

With Alessandra Lanot

Here's my Watercolored Flower Project: