Watercolor Florabunda with Helen Shafer Garcia

Create Arts Online is thrilled to present award winning watercolor artist Helen Shafer Garcia and her online course “Watercolor Florabunda.”

Helen is known for her signature style of watercolor “dropped in” color. Helen created this unique technique to give her watercolors a loose and organic feel.

In this online course you will not only learn many of Helen’s techniques, but you will have a birds-eye view as you watch Helen create two paintings. Each painting achieves a different effect, and she provides students with even more information than what she teaches in her live one-day workshops.

At the start of her course, Helen shares her favorite paper, paints, brushes, and other materials for making a successful project.

Once you have all of your materials, the fun begins! For the first painting, Helen starts with a reference photo of an Iris flower, and explains how printing in black and white works best for understanding the light and dark values of the subject.

Once you have drawn the image on your paper, she demonstrates her “dropped in” color technique using just a few brushes and a limited color palette. With Helen’s techniques watercolor does not have to be precise, but you will still get beautiful results.

In the second painting she will share her mixed media approach with her same “dropped in” watercolor. She also demonstrates how she creates depth with her negative painting technique. This is a magical and creative way to create unique effects while adding your own style and voice to your work.

Having Helen by your side with this online course is an incredible way to learn as you watch her make choices with her palette and each brush stroke. You cannot get this kind of instruction in live workshops. At any time you will be able to refer back to any section, whether it is a day later, a week later, or even a month later. This style of learning gives you the opportunity to learn something new each time.

This course comes with a PDF for download with all the tools, materials, and resources. Helen also offers a picture of the Iris Flower to follow along.