Posts Tagged "art"

Palette Palate: The first Maginhawa StrEat Food Park Art Fair

I had the privilege of taking part in Maginhawa StrEat Food Park‘s first ever art fair titled Palette Palate from August 1-2, 2015, thanks to the awesome Ella Lama who organized the event.  The fair consisted of an exhibit + pop-up shops by some of the participating artists, myself included. Here are the three artworks I displayed (on the counter, last three from the right). They might look familiar because I posted work-in-progress videos and/or just-finished shots of these on Instagram. 😉

maginhawa-streat-foodpark-art-fair-1

Setting up in the background are Ella (left) and Cheska of StrEat. On the wall from l-r are works by Megan Dino, June Digan, Mary Grace Vinas, and Andrea dela Cruz. This is actually a photo from day 2 because we got rained in on the first day and had to set up at 6 pm, 2 hours later than planned.

maginhawa streat food park art fair

Our pack-up-and-go pop-up shops on the first day. From l-r: works for sale by yours truly, Ella Lama, and Megan Dino.

Handy outdoor craft fair tip (especially helpful during the rainy season) — if your items will fit, you can use a craft toolbox (or any other box with a lid) as a “portable shop”. It allows you to arrange and label stuff and you can quickly close it — and protect the contents! — whenever necessary. 🙂

Another learning: have faith in your customers. Given the weather conditions, we initially thought that only a few people would come. To our pleasant surprise a lot showed up, talked to us and bought our stuff. <3 <3 <3 (If you were among those I talked to, THANK YOU! I loved meeting you and was happy to finally see the face behind the familiar Instagram handle. :D)

We were so busy that before we knew it, it was already 10 pm and we hadn’t even eaten. 😀 Thankfully, StrEat is open til 2am so there was plenty of time to grab food once the art buying crowd thinned out.

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

Class picture from day 1 plus a few other snaps of our works in the exhibit. August 2 — Very grateful for much nicer weather on the second day since we were able to set up at 4pm as planned and I also got to take better-lit photos. Some more artworks on display. maginhawa streat art fair Works by Yang Barrios, Alexandra Paredes, Hands Love Papers, Geli Balcruz, and Karen Versoza. More artists were also able to set up shop besides Megan and myself. (Below photo) top left: rubber stamps and cards by Alex Paredes’ Rubber Ducky Stamp Co; bottom left: prints by Karen Versoza and June Digan. earnest and buddy zabala maginhawa streat food park art fair My good friends Earnest and Buddy Zabala dropped by and gamely posed for pics and even helped me sell (woohoo! I love these guys. <3 ) Here they are with my little blue toolbox (looking a bit more organized this time). The evening was a bit more relaxed and I got to bond more with my new friends. These girls are so creative and inspiring! Of course I couldn’t go home without buying some of their beautiful creations: 

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

You can check out the above photo on IG to see their feeds. Included in my loot from Ella, Megan, Alex, Karen, and June are the “Light” book (which was a gift from Rob Cham!), two art cards featuring Paola Jane Esteron‘s calligraphy & watercolor work (also gifts!), and free brush calligraphy of Arn’s and my names by Sarah Francesca of Creative Curiosities. 😀

Finally, an almost-complete class picture which I nicked from Megan’s Facebook album ;

maginhawa streat foodpark art fair

I’m joining another art fair soon! Please stay tuned for more details. Meanwhile you can always check out my feed to see what I’m currently up to. 😉

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Watercolor Review: Shin Han Professional Korean Watercolours

As a kid I actually learned to paint with tube watercolors, not with pans. When I was 7, my dad worked as a professor in Kyoto for a year and since then, his Japanese colleague would send my brother and me Sakura cray-pas and tube watercolor sets almost every school year until I was in high school. 

Later on I got acquainted with Prang and so I grew to love the convenience of not having to open tubes while painting.

I haven’t worked with tubed watercolor for years but a few weeks ago I stumbled upon local online art store  Art Whale while Instagram-hopping. They carry beautiful paints like Korea-based Nicker fine art gouache (a.k.a. the brand that Ghibli Animation Studio uses), Japan-based  Turner Colour Works Acryl Gouache,Peerless Watercolors (a vintage American brand known for bright colors in sheet form), and Shin Han Art Korean Watercolours. I was attracted to the latter the most so I immediately ordered seven tubes with some of my Art Mart earnings. 😉  I resisted from getting the set of 12 because I never use black and white anyway so I had to think hard about which ones I’ll get the most use out of.

TIP: If you’re planning on working with a limited palette too, consider getting primary and secondary colors since you can mix them to come up with other colors you’ll need. However, if you need a good starter set, I recommend getting the box of 12 or 24. You’ll get a lot for your money’s worth.

shin han art professional korean watercolors

After placing my order, the tubes were delivered to my doorstep the very next morning by ArtWhale’s fabulous Kuki herself! How’s that for service? 🙂 She even gave me a very useful tip from her own experience — the binder of Korean colors is made from natural glue (the East’s equivalent of gum arabic) so don’t seal the tubes’ caps on too tightly because they will be difficult to reopen. Just close them tight enough so that they won’t spill.

Right after I got the colors I quickly made the painting above. Coming from working with pan colors, my first impression of Shin Han was that the colors were very intense which shocked me at first. I haven’t tried but I think they can be 100% opaque when applied thickly… I’ll get back to you on that.

So I made a mental note to squirt just a bit of paint into the palette which I proceeded to dilute with lots of water to get the consistency I needed. As you can see in the painting above and below, bright color + transparent effects can be achieved with just a teeny bit of paint. Very economical. 😀

shin han art watercolor review

I made this illustration (a portrait of Aoi Miyazaki) because I still had a lot of leftover Shin Han paint on my palette… and for portrait-painting practice. 🙂

Same reason for this next one below.

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

Most of the pigments in these paints are lightfast as well  — the PDF guide in the Korean Shin Han site has lightfastness ratings beside the colors if you need help deciding which ones to choose. They also blend beautifully so employing the wet-on-wet technique is a joy with these paints. I posted a video on my Instagram where I’m using Shin Han so you can check it out to see it in action.

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My art on RedBubble

cynthia arre illustrations on redbubble

Hey guys, just a quick update to let you know that some of my artworks can now be purchased on art prints, t-shirts, tote bags, some household items, etc via Redbubble. They’ll also be available locally sometime within the month — I just need to get them to my printer. 🙂

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I'm Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, a Filipino watercolor artist & graphic designer. I live in QC with my graphic novelist husband Arnold and our friendly marmalade tabby Abbas. This blog has been chronicling my life, likes, and loves since 2001. [ more ]

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