Cara Olsen - Botanical Watercolor Painting for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Beautiful Floral Artwork

Botanical
WATERCOLOR PAINTING
FOR BEGINNERS

A Step-by-Step Guide to Create Beautiful Floral Artwork

Cara Rosalie Olsen

For the creative souls and lovers of beauty,
most especially flowers, this book is for you.

Before we wade much deeper into the literal water of watercolor study, Id like to talk with you for a moment about something we will be revisiting again and again throughout this book: loose art.

For the sake of clarity, we should define the word loose, as it means different things to everyone. For some, loose, when applied to watercolor painting, could mean something abstract: highly gestural strokes with a goal to cast only the faintest mirage of something definitive. Or loose could mean a structure that plays with the boundaries of what is real and what could be if left to the imagination. If I were to label my own style, Id say Im more the lattersomeone who feels highly inspired by the shapes and movement of nature, but genuinely longs to tell her own story.

In this book, you will find that each lesson is merely a nod to the subject we are studying, never to be an exact facsimile. You arent trying to replicate a photo of an African violet, youre trying to convey an African violet as you perceive and feel it. This is intentional. Having studied botanical art for three years, it wasnt until I began allowing myself to break the rules that I found true joy in the process. Joy I want to share with you.

Art, any art, should be a representation of the one yielding the medium. It should look and feel like you.

Loose art is that for me. I see myself in indistinct shapes, not quite comfortable fitting inside boxes. I see myself in the tangle of leaves as an imperfect structure willing to share the beauty she has to offer. I choose to keep my art loose as a living testimony to the relentless beauty found in the odd and irregular.

A huge misconception about loose art is that its easier than more structured art, which is simply not true.

If anything, most will agree loose art can be more challenging because there is no right answer. There is a desired end result when botanically approaching a flower that doesnt exist in loose art. There are limitless ways to paint a rose, and whether they are good is highly subjective.

None of this is said to dissuade you, but rather to encourage you in continuing to explore the boundaries of your expression. Loose art is innately forgiving, meaning that even when you make a mistake, there is still room to make beauty with it. This is why I choose and teach this art formfor its capacity to offer grace to the artist every step of the way. There are no closed doors, only open windows.

Ive chosen to highlight loose art in this book for the freedom it provides, inviting you to be guided and inspired by nature, rather than her prisoner. Art should be forgiving. It should make you feel both powerful and vulnerable. It shouldnt be something that leaves you feeling you didnt hit the mark.

More than anything, I would like you to lean in to the mess. I promise to teach you all you need to know about the foundation of botanical watercolor painting, using loose art as the backbone to our projects, and in return I ask that you give yourself permission to take risks, even if they dont pan out. By this, you discover your process, and process is GOLD. Process is the reason we keep coming back, why we hunger to keep creating, keep learning. Contrary to belief, art isnt the finished resultits everything that led up to it.

So, are we ready to do this?

Then, brushes raised cheers to the mess and the magic! Its going to be beautiful, my friend.

The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

A

activation, of paint

African daisies

agapanthus

alstroemeria

aubrieta

autumn wreath

B

belly, of brush

bleeds

blending, of color

bluebird hibiscuses

boundaries

branches

brushes

C

chamomile

chrysanthemums

cold-press paper

color, about

Color Guides

color values

compound strokes

cool colors

cosmos

crimp, brush part

D

daisies

delphinium

E

erasers

eucalyptus, and lavender wreath

eucalyptus branches

eucalyptus leaf stroke

F

ferrule, brush

filler flowers. See flowers, filler

flower strokes

African daisy

lavender

pinwheel

rose

flowers. See also other flower headings; wreaths

agapanthus

alstroemeria

chrysanthemum

cosmo

Iceland poppy

striped flaming flag tulip

wild rose

zinnia

flowers, filler

aubrieta

delphinium

forget-me-nots

snowberry

yarrow

flowers, tropical

bluebird hibiscus

plumeria

tiger lily

flowers, white

African daisy

chamomile

hyacinth

ivory garden rose

white gerbera daisy

white magnolia

forget-me-nots

G

gerbera daisies, white

gestural stroke

glazing

H

handle, brush

hibiscuses, bluebird

hot-press paper

hyacinths

I

Iceland poppies

inspiration

ivory garden roses

L

lavender and eucalyptus wreath

lavender

leaf strokes

compound

gestural

positions of

simple

leaf wreaths

lilies

loading, brushes

loose art

M

magnolias, white

mixing, of color

movement

muddy colors

muted colors

O

outlining

P

paint

palettes

pans, of paint

paper

pencils

Peruvian lily

pinwheel flower

plumerias

poppies

positions

posture, brushes

pressure, brush

primary colors

priming brushes

R

ratios, water-to-paint

recipe, color

rewetting

roses

rough paper

S

saturation

secondary colors

simple stroke

sketching

snowberry

softening

striped flaming flag tulips

strokes

compound

flower (See flower strokes)

gestural

leaves

simple

supplies

T

tertiary colors

texture, of paper

tiger lilies

toe, brush

toolbox

tubes, of paint

tulips, striped flaming flag

V

values, color

variety

W

warm colors

Watercolor Supply Guide

water-to-paint ratios

wet-into-wet technique