Panama City quickly became one of my favorite destinations in Central America. As a former professional travel photographer and internationally exhibited watercolor artist, I spent a week exploring and photographing the city’s remarkable mix of modern architecture, Spanish colonial history, tropical wildlife, and rainforest landscapes.
From the colorful streets of Casco Viejo and the Panama City skyline to sloths, tropical birds, historic ruins, and Caribbean fortresses, the trip provided an almost ridiculous amount of photographic material. Many of those photographs later became original watercolor paintings using experimental techniques including watercolor batik, pouring, and mouth atomizing.
This Panama travel hub brings together my firsthand travel stories, photography, watercolor paintings, and painting tutorials. Whether you’re planning a trip to Panama, researching the best places to photograph in Panama City, or simply looking for artistic inspiration, you can explore the complete trip below.
And don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Trust me on this one.
My Panama watercolor paintings and fine art prints are created from photographs I made while traveling through Panama. From the modern Panama City skyline to historic architecture and tropical landscapes, each painting transforms a firsthand travel experience into original watercolor artwork.
Original watercolor paintings and museum-quality fine art prints available.
This Panama City skyline painting was created using watercolor batik on Japanese rice paper, combining transparent watercolor with layers of melted wax to build color, texture, and light. Learn more about the watercolor batik on my Watercolor Lessons page, or join me for an upcoming workshop
Why Panama?
Panama offers an unusual combination of Spanish colonial history, tropical rainforest, wildlife, Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, and one of the most dramatic modern skylines in Central America. Panama City alone lets you photograph historic Casco Viejo in the morning, explore tropical landscapes during the day, and watch the sun disappear behind skyscrapers from a rooftop in the evening. Outside the capital, historic Portobelo and Fort San Lorenzo reveal another side of Panama through centuries-old Spanish fortifications and Caribbean scenery.