Learn to find inspiration, plan your approach, and create stunning watercolour paintings inspired by the natural world. Anna’s vibrant, detailed and uplifting watercolours have earned her worldwide recognition. In this, her second book, she goes beyond flowers to explore her inspirations from across the natural world, including fruit, birds and animals. The book gives you a very personal insight into Anna’s way of working; with clarity and warmth she will help you find inspiration, choose scale and composition, see things correctly and work with discipline and flow until you produce fabulous work of your own. Packed with advice and inspiring finished pieces, this gorgeous book guides the reader through Anna’s method of working with a variety of beautiful step-by-step projects and exercises. It is suitable for beginners or for more experienced artists looking to refine their style or try some new techniques. “This book is glorious in every sense, from the beautiful cover to the absolutely stunning paintings throughout the book, this is something to bring joy on the dullest of days. . . . This beautiful book is packed full of helpful advice, how to garden, how to photograph, and how to paint from those photographs, how to understand colour, form and texture.” —My Creative Notebook “This engaging guide to painting a wide variety of natural subjects is packed with information and inspiration. . . . This is an intriguing, enthralling and thoroughly enjoyable book.” —The SAA Catalogue

Anna Mason's exceptional floral artwork has won awards from the Royal Horticultural Society, International Artist magazine and seen her elected to the prestigious Society of Botanical Artists. In this book, she shares her innovative watercolour technique so that you can paint flowers in her clean, crisp style. The book covers every aspect of painting modern botanical-style portraits of flowers, from tips on gathering your reference to Anna's six stage watercolour process. There are instructions on setting up your studio and how to produce the detailed drawings. Each of the six step-by-step projects is accompanied by an outline drawing, tonal notes and useful colour swatches so that you can compare the tone and hue of your mixes to Anna's own. This all builds into a fantastic guide that will inspire and challenge the experienced watercolour artist, while drawing in and reassuring the complete beginner.

Learn to paint with Anna Mason, using this inspiring, practical watercolor guide to botanical art Anna's vibrant, detailed and uplifting watercolors have earned her worldwide recognition. In this, her second book, she goes beyond flowers to explore her inspirations from across the natural world, including fruit, birds and animals. The book gives you a very personal insight into Anna's way of working; with clarity and warmth she will help you find inspiration, choose scale and composition, see things correctly and work with discipline and flow until you produce fabulous work of your own. Packed with advice and inspiring finished pieces, this gorgeous book guides the reader through Anna's method of working with a variety of beautiful step-by-step projects and exercises. It is suitable for beginners or for more experienced artists looking to refine their style or try some new techniques.

Billy Showell is a well-respected botanical watercolour artist, and her exceptional eye for detail and ability to re-create the form, texture, colour and patterning of a wide range of plants have earned her a formidable reputation worldwide. Her compositions are given a contemporary, sometimes playful twist, while retaining all the beauty and accuracy of traditional botanical paintings. In this inspiring and indispensable guide for botanical artists, she reveals the materials, methods and techniques she uses to attain her stunningly beautiful portraits of flowers, fruit and vegetables. There is expert guidance on tools and materials, working from life, observation, and drawing and painting techniques, as well as detailed sections on pattern, texture, and colour and colour mixing. With numerous step-by-step studies, close-up photographs and examples of Billy's exquisite paintings, this book is not only packed full of invaluable advice and information but also a visually stunning showcase for the work of this amazing artist.

Artists seem compelled to try to capture the amazing variety of the animal kingdom; the challenge remains how to breathe energy into your paintings and make the animals jump off the paper. This deeply practical book offers an accessible introduction to sketching animals from life, to try to capture that essence. It gives instruction on how to approach drawing; covers ideas for materials and supplies to make sketching from life a joy; gives step-by-step demonstrations of different watercolour techniques; offers specific advice on using colour and painting, fur, feathers and features and gives ideas for mixed-media experimentation. Full of colourful examples and guidance, this new book explains how to transform your studies into finished artwork that are brimming with character. It encourages you to find the extraordinary in the everyday, as well as revelling in the breadth of nature. Taking a contemporary approach to traditional watercolour, the author shows how a few, well-chosen brushes of paint can reveal the soul of your subject.

Discover the happiness benefits of putting brush to paper with a guide that puts judgment aside and “encourages simple enjoyment of painting” (Library Journal). Meditative, peaceful, and calming, watercolour painting offers a sense of control and self-worth to everyone, with no judgment or goal beyond the joy of painting itself. This book shows you how to calm and enhance your outlook through the movement of brush on paper. Master artist Jean Haines leads you through the journey, putting the emphasis on the joy of play rather than on pressure to perform or produce—and showing you how to wipe away your worries with the soothing, gentle strokes of watercolour paint. “Starting from the premise that everyone can paint, Haines frees readers of the goals and expectations of end results, and encourages simple enjoyment of painting. Open-ended, detailed exercises guide readers through experimenting with paint to gain a sense of control; to relieve stress; to escape; or to be in a better mood. The emotional and psychological properties of color are discussed as are obstacles to creativity and happiness. . . . [a] unique blend of self-care and expression.” —Library Journal