Colleen Sanchez - Sharing My Art Studio Space

My Studio Space
Colleen Sanchez

Over the last few months I've had some questions from people - clients and other artists about where and how I paint. So today, here is a little window into part of my art studio space where I do my original miniature watercolor paintings. 

This photo shows a portion of the table area I use for working on my miniature paintings and my small drawings. I use 140 and sometimes 300 lb paper for the mini watercolors so I don't need to do any stretching or taping down. I also really like the paintings done right to the edge of the paper, nicer for matting and framing.

I usually try to work on a few mini paintings in tandem, which allows me to spend less time waiting for a wet into wet passage to dry on one particular painting before continuing on. If I'm on a roll painting, I like to get to it and paint, not spend my time waiting for the paint passages to dry. My own personal preference is a choice not to use a hair dryer, I like the paintings to dry naturally.

For these small paintings I worked the backgrounds first with a wet into wet application considering the colors and style that would compliment each bloom. I like to have a somewhat abstract background so I can focus on the beauty of the flowers but sometimes still have a suggestion of foliage behind the flowers. 

Once the background was dry I worked on the leaves and flower buds with direct painting and dropped in colors. When that is dry I can deepen if need be and glaze in some shadows. 

For the blooms themselves, sometimes I glaze the colors on, dry them, glaze on more color but sometimes I do them all in one go, starting with one color and dropping other colors into the wet paint. I may sometimes have some lifting to do while the paint is still damp to suggest a few veins. 

Once I'm happy with the light, color, shadows and texture of the blooms, I may dry brush in a few final details and viola - a completed miniature watercolor painting.

I think creating these original mini paintings on a somewhat regular basis allows some experimentation and teaches me a lot of techniques that really pay off when I'm working on my larger pieces. And the best bonus to me - they are a lot of fun to do. However, sometimes I really mess one up, or more and have to get rid of it. My artist friends cringe when I do that, always telling me I should never throw any away, but to me, sometimes they are just so yucky they have to go. You know we can be our own worst critics at times, LOL.

Some time in the future I may do a longer article about working on some of my larger paintings along with some step by step photos. In the meantime thanks so much for tuning in. Happy Hunting to you art lovers and keep on painting to my artist friends.