AI to Watercolor
A 15-Year Journey Through Photography, Digital art, and Watercolor
A 15-Year Journey Through Photography, Digital Art, and Watercolor
- “Entropy“. Photography (2012 – 2015)
- “Temperamental Skies“. Mobile photography (2014 – 2017)
- “Atmósferas“. Landscape photography, watercolor, digital art (2017)
- “Giovanna“. Portrait photography, watercolor, digital art (2018)
- “Undressing Giovanna“. Black and white portrait photography, NFT (2022)
- “Negentropy“. AI-Generated Portrait, digital art, watercolor (2025-)
Entropy
Photography, 2012 – 2015
While working as a fashion photographer, I found a particular kind of relief in photographing random chaos with the same dedication I brought to creating aspirational images. I became obsessed with layers and how they seemed to fit together as if they were always meant to be (or at least that’s how I chose to see them).
The images below include Andando: el último tren de AFE, taken on a trip from Montevideo to 25 de Agosto, Uruguay, documenting the last passenger train operating in the entire country; Dónde están las llaves, an attempt to hold on to the many objects I had to let go of when selling my parents’ house, full of meaningful things too heavy to carry with me; and Paseo con Morgan, details of decay around my home in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo, captured during one of my daily walks with my dear dog Morgan.
Temperamental Skies
Mobile photography, 2014 – 2017
Temperamental Skies marked the first public chapter of my ongoing series Atmósferas and the moment I quietly returned to photography after burning out as a fashion photographer and part-time marketer. For years, the camera had been tied to clients, deadlines and expectations, until the pleasure of making images was almost erased. In 2014, a simple sentence from my brother – “If you like to make photos, go out there and make photos” – stripped everything back to its core. I started again with what I had: a phone, a large window in Ciudad Vieja overlooking the Río de la Plata, and the shifting skies of Montevideo. Those casual, cloudy frames gradually became the foundation of my current exploration, where images are treated as the smallest units of construction, and led to my first solo exhibition at Hyatt Montevideo.
In 2022, after moving to Barcelona, I revisited that material from a distance and curated 40 Cloudy Years: The Genesis Collection as a way to look back at the life I had built in Uruguay. The clouds that once filled my camera roll now anchor me to what feels essential: finding beauty within arm’s reach and trusting my instincts along the way.
Atmósferas
Photography, Digital art, Watercolor, 2014 – 2017
In 2017, I began experimenting with adding an abstract color layer to my photos. The first images blending photography and watercolor were landscapes, inspired by my ever-changing window over a stormy Montevideo.
This approach led to a series of large-scale works and a solo exhibition “Atmósfera Uruguay”, created in partnership with Samsung for the launch of their artwork-friendly 60-inch TVs, shown at Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco in 2017. In these pieces, form and color are deliberately dissociated: the photograph holds the scene together, while the painted layer sets the flow, yet somehow both add to the same story.
Large-scale photography + watercolor on paper and canvas
“Atmósfera Uruguay” Exhibition at Carrasco International Airport, 2017
(Presented on AI-generated interior)
(Presented on AI-generated interior)
Giovanna
Photography, Digital art, Watercolor, 2018
After ten years working for the fashion and music industries, I shifted my focus to fine art photography, exploring deeper layers of beauty in the complexity of body language and the power of full presence. In 2018, Giovanna became my first portrait series using the large-scale black-and-white photograph with a watercolor layer. The series follows Giovanna Martinatto after her retirement from the National Ballet of Uruguay, at a moment when she was finally free to do nude work and shape her art on her own terms. I was going through a similar transition as a photographer, and we met at that threshold.
The work is an expression of women’s freedom at the end of a life chapter, capturing the ethereal moment of innocent joy between closing one stage and opening another. The series was exhibited throughout the four floors of the historic Teatro Solís in Montevideo, in both large-scale and regular formats.
(Presented on AI-generated interior)
Undressing Giovanna
Photography, 2022
In 2022, I returned to this collaboration with Undressing Giovanna, an NFT photography collection that removes the color layer entirely. Here, I wanted her to be honestly nude, even color-naked: just light, body and pure shape. Presented on Sloika, a curated photography NFT marketplace, the series stands as a quiet statement that we are enough just as we are.