Cyanotype & Watercolor
On a bright Sarasota morning, even the sun can become a collaborator.
By Edit Sarasota Staff
On a bright Sarasota morning, even the sun can become a collaborator. In Cyanotype & Watercolor, participants will use its ultraviolet light to create images that begin in the unmistakable blue of an old photograph, then transform them with the freer, more intimate language of watercolor.
Led by Bianca Selket of Art on Fire, LLC, the workshop introduces two mediums in a single, richly tactile process. Cyanotype is one of photography’s earliest forms: objects are arranged over light-sensitive paper, exposed to the sun, and revealed as white silhouettes against a Prussian-blue ground. Here, the process begins with pre-prepared, deckled-edge watercolor paper, giving each finished piece the feel of a small handmade artifact rather than a conventional print.
Participants will compose their images using botanical forms and other materials, let the sun work its chemistry, then return to the resulting cyanotype motif with watercolor. The second stage is deliberately open-ended. A leaf might become more vividly green, a shadow might deepen into violet, or an abstract arrangement might take on the atmosphere of a Sarasota landscape at dusk. Selket, a professional watercolorist, will offer guidance while leaving room for individual instinct and happy accidents.
The pairing feels especially apt for Sarasota, where outdoor life and creative practice have long shared the same geography. Gardens, waterways, shells, palms and shifting Gulf light offer an abundance of visual prompts, while the workshop’s movement between indoors and outdoors mirrors the city’s easy relationship with both studio and landscape. Cyanotype also rewards close looking: a familiar frond or flower becomes, under the sun, a study in outline, texture and negative space.
No prior experience with either medium is required, and tuition includes all materials and supplies. General admission is included in the course fee, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early and spend time in the Gardens before class begins. Because part of the workshop takes place outside, participants should bring water and anything needed for personal comfort in an outdoor setting.
Cyanotype & Watercolor takes place Monday, October 12, 2026, at the Downtown Sarasota campus, 1534 Mound Street, Sarasota. For a few hours, the city’s generous sunlight will serve not merely as weather, but as the first mark on the page.