Master artist Alvaro Castagnet helped us create two special watercolors which capture the passion and expression of his paintings – Alvaro’s Caliente Grey (warm) and Alvaro’s Fresco Grey (cool) – part of our Signature Series.

Grays can be so expressive, as Alvaro describes them:

“Fury, energy and power. Greys create a feeling of danger, emotion, passion, mystery…evoking things that are unknown…darkness. I use these greys to create paintings that have magnetism with something to discover. Both of these colors have just this type of feel to me.”

Paris View – painted with Alvaro’s Caliente Grey

Alvaro’s Caliente Grey is a very powerful hue for creating strong, warm paintings. In monochrome, this wonderful grey will help you achieve an atmosphere with amazing glow as you add dramatic highlights and shadows. This smooth, velvety grey also mixes wonderfully with other colors, toning them down and adding warmth.

Genoa – painted with Alvaro’s Fresco Grey

Alvaro’s Fresco Grey is a very true hue, with no artificial look. Passionate and mysterious, it can evoke distant elements of any kind, even the unknown. A cool midnight in mass tone or a cooling mist in washes, it mixes well with other colors, toning them down and adding a touch of coolness.

Grays can create both subtle and bold expression when mixed with care. For plein air work, having reliable, pre-mixed grays is key when time is short and light is constantly changing.

Here are two mixing grids showing some of the lovely colors that can be mixed using Alvaro’s Greys with our Essentials Watercolor Set.
Click here to download a blank grid to transfer to your own watercolor paper.