Page 88 - 30 Minute Artist: Painting Flowers in Watercolour

Watercolour Flower Portraits

BILLY SHOWELL A

Publication April 2014 D
Price AUD $44.99
ISBN 9781782210825 V
Format Paperback 292 x 216 mm
Extent 128 pages
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Illustrations 350 Colour illustrations
Imprint Search Press
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Publisher Search Press
Classification Watercolour
BIC CODE/S WFA, AFCC C

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Description
NEW IN PAPERBACK I
Billy Showell's exquisite and technically brilliant watercolour flower portraits are beautifully presented in this highly informative, lavishly
illustrated book. Packed with information on drawing and painting techniques, colour mixing and composition, it is an invaluable source N
of ideas and inspiration for anyone who wants to develop their flower painting skills, whether or not they have any previous experience.

About The Author F
Billy Showell graduated from St Martins School of Art with a B.A. in fashion design, but was irresistably drawn to painting and
illustration. In 1993 she set course for a career as an artist and now paints, illustrates and teaches botanical painting at her studio and art O

clubs in the UK, USA and Australia. She lives in Tunbridge Wells, UK with her husband and two sons. Billy has been awarded five
Certificates of Botanical Merit from the Society of Botanical Artists and her first book on watercolour flower portraits has been hugely
successful in the UK and abroad. Billy's paintings are collected by her followers the world over and many are available as limited edition R

prints.
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Reviews

You don't need much to have a ball with this book. The author recommends buying the best quality paints, but I think it depends on
what you want to do with the finished paintings. Mine are preliminary stages between nature and a piece of wearable art or a set of A
memory album decorations so think about this part carefully. Get to grips with the drawing stage first, look at how flowers are
constructed (briefly) and then do some mixing. It is useful to see a palette of what colors to buy as there are so many and if you are
painting flowers you need a rather different palette than -for example - a portraitist. There are several flower studies with tips on how the T
colors used were mixed which I found to be very useful, and the same for leaves. I think this was my favorite part as mixing is something
of a bugbear with me, and I think that this is a great way to handle the subject rather than in the abstract. Here too are different painting
techniques to try such as wet-into-wet, using masking fluid, dry brushing etc and what sort of effect they give. Other highlights include a I
short section on painting white flowers, looking at how to paint different parts of a flower and composing a picture. The in-depth staged O
studies are just the type of thing for any artist to work through to really get under the skin of a painting, and remind me of how I learned
to paint. I've seen a lot of art books but for sheer conciseness, practicality and down-to-earth good sense this one gets a high score. One
for my keeper shelf.
Myshelf.com 20060725 N

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