The Watercolor Weekend Getaway in Tagaytay

Whenever I want to get away from the city for some alone craft time, Tagaytay is my go-to place. Solo craft time is so important for me because it's the time I get to experiment with my new materials and new techniques. Actually, most of my instagram posts are fruits of these creative exercises. I start off in one corner of the page, and then work my way to fill it up, without a plan in mind. That they turn out pretty decent is really just a bonus after the meditative creative process. And I guess that's also one thing I like about holding workshops---it's sharing a new hobby / skill that you can lose yourself in. :)

I launched a new workshop series a couple of weekends ago in Taal Vista Hotel, Tagaytay: the Watercolored Flowers and Watercolored Lettering crafternoons. Tagaytay is always a welcome escape from the heat of the city, and I was happily joined by 60 other participants, plus my whole family! It was my sister's birthday that weekend, so she had a little slumber party of her own with her friends.

We kicked off the weekend with the Watercolored Flowers workshop, with flowers courtesy of Vatel Manila. The workshop was held in the function rooms of Taal Vista Hotel.

Each participant got a Sakura Koi set and some brushes, including a 10/0 liner brush.

We started by learning about the different watercolor mixtures.

And then it was time to pick flowers!:)

Each participant created her own bouquet.

And then we went on to painting, step-by-step.

Participants had the option to take a photo of their arrangements,

and print it using the Canon Pixma printer.

First step: Underpainting

Class peechur, yay!

On Day 2, we did Watercolored Lettering. This time, we changed venues to the hotel's ballroom! Soshal crafternoon! :P

For this class, we used Dr. Ph. Martin's watercolor ink, and each participant got to take home three bottles, a ceramic plate, more brushes, and a sketchpad.