Paint a Flower Bouquet in Watercolor

In this hands-on class, you’ll learn to capture the delicate beauty of flowers using watercolor and watercolor pencils — one of the most expressive and forgiving mediums in classical painting. Guided by master artist Igor Naskalov (Senior Lecturer, Russian Academy of Painting; faculty at the Florence Academy of Art), you’ll work with real floral arrangements and learn the techniques of the Old Masters.

You’ll sketch your arrangement, build color with watercolor washes, and add detail with watercolor pencils. You leave with a complete, framed-ready painting.

What you’ll learn

• How to sketch a floral composition
• Watercolor wash techniques: wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry
• Watercolor pencil detail and texture
• Color mixing and layering for realistic flower tones

What to bring

• Watercolor paint set (12+ colors)
• Watercolor pencils set
• Watercolor paper A3/A4, 180–200gsm (5–10 sheets)
• Soft synthetic brushes #0–8
• HB pencil and eraser
• Disposable palette or white plate

Class size: 8–12 students (minimum 5 to run) · Ages: 12+ · Languages: English · Russian · Italian

Who is Igor Naskalov?

Igor Naskalov is a classically trained Russian painter and one of the foremost instructors of Old Masters techniques working today. He currently serves as Chairman of Painting at the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow – the same institution that has trained generations of Russia’s finest artists – where he also leads student programs at the State Hermitage Museum.

Igor’s teaching takes him across the world. He has led workshops and masterclasses at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy and the Dutch Atelier of Realist Art in Haarlem, Netherlands, working with serious students of painting from Europe, Russia, and the United States. This summer, he completed a program at the Hermitage Museum with 22 students before bringing his work to South Florida.

He is the co-author of Drawing Drapery, an academic instructional book on the history and classical technique of depicting textiles — a staple subject in the European painting tradition.

Igor teaches in English, Russian, and Italian, and his classes are designed to give students of all levels a genuine experience of how the great painters of Europe actually worked — not a simplified version of it, but the real thing, adapted to where you are right now as an artist.