Inspire Me Interview: Alaia Cabo

I'm delighted to share the work of the talented watercolor artist Alaia Cabo, along with an interview! I'm loving being able to share these interviews with you. It's so great to get inside the minds (and workspaces!) of the artists I admire.

Alaia is an artist from Denmark. She uses vivid colors to create watercolor paintings that are beautiful and full of texture. Her style is a little looser than a lot of the other watercolorists that I see, and I think it gives the pieces an extra dose of emotion.

How long have you been doing this? What is your story?

I always liked to paint, I remember I started with art lessons in the evenings after school very young. I also studied the art bachelor, I explored several techniques and then I realize watercolor was the one with I can express myself much more freely.

What is your basic process for creating a piece? Could you should a photo of a mess of in progress work?

​I need to be calm to paint and focus on what I'm doing, need to have very clear what is it I want to represent too, sometimes I let myself to be more free during the creation but on those moments I can feel I'm deeply concentrated, it's something that rarely happens to me always I want to do many things at the same moment, my imagination is faster than my hands. :)​

Who are some artists or creators that you admire?

There are many artist and creators I admire, just for the fact on trying to do what you love is a motive to admired and respect. there are a lot of hard work and tears behind, but everything is worthy if you follow your dream. I can give you some examples that gave me motivation to show the world my work, that there were people out there interested on these things like Yao Cheng, or Helen Dealtry, among others, powerful women who have achieved great things, all an example.



What sort of historical influences are reference in your work? Are there any specific techniques or processes that you use that were more common in another time?

My style is based on an Asian style called sumi-e, it was in the beginning a Chinese style but later on was popular in Japan where they use that name. Basically is a different form of holding the brush, and also it can only be painting with a single brush stroke to mame the forms and figures you want to represent.

Do you find your style evolving as you learn and grow?

Of course! I can see if i look thought my paints how my style is continually changing and evolving, other colors, other forms... I can notice how I'm learning every day a bit more about color and technique, something you might not notice from one day to another, so I think is a good exercise to look back on your work and appreciate all the time you have spent on this. There are days you can paint and paint but nothing seems to be worthy, so it's good to see that even those kind of days I don't waste my time, always I learn something of myself.


What do you do to jump start your inspiration? Do you have a favorite subject to paint?

I love painting flowers mostly, and I think the most of the times my inspiration comes from seeing combination of colors than came to my mind, then I search for a pretty picture of flowers to make the composition of colors and abstract forms that resemble it.

Do you dabble in other forms of expressing yourself?

I'm a very creative person, I like to do handcrafts, I'm always recycling things and materials to create other stuff. I also love music, I play some piano and also love to dance.


If you could have an infinite inventory of one art supply, what would you choose?

Hmm good question, it's difficult to choose a single one, but I guess what it caches my attention the most is colors, so I guess I would like to have an infinitive inventory of watercolors.

What are some songs that are on your playlist right now?

Frenship of Capsize
Est-ce que tu m'aimes? of mom Coeur avait raison
ride of Twenty one Pilots
save me of Aimee Mann
river wider of Tall Heights


If you could own a physical shop that sold only your work, what would it look like?

I think it will be a pretty minimalist shop, I like clean and open spaces and the color will be on my paints so that caches the attention of the buyer.

How can my readers find you?

Instagram is the social account I use the most, also my etsy shop  or my facebook page.