How to Paint: Flowers in Water Colour

After graduating with a first class degree in textile design, Julie King worked as an in-house designer of household textiles before freelancing for several years; creating fabrics,wallpapers and ceramics, all inspired by her deep love of flowers.More recently Julie was awarded the Society of Botanical Artists Certificate of Botanical merit, judged by the Senior Conservator at Kew Gardens,for her freestyle interpretation of an iris.She lives in Kent with her husband and their two daughters. A contributor to the Leisure Painter magazine she paints and runs regular classes for adults as well as painting days in National Trust and privately owned gardens.

• Introduction 6Materials 8Colour 16Basic techniques 26Demonstrations 40Clematis 42Peace Roses 50Delphiniums & Stocks 56Index 64

Jan 09This relatively new series from Search Press is now starting to branch out from the basic media guides which any series starts with, and which often only give a hint to its eventual success. On the basis of this first subject-based volume, it’s going to be a good one.There is no shortage of books on flower painting and you can take your pick of anything from basic sketching to scientific-level botanical illustration. Julie Ford sets her sights at the beginner level and provides, in only 64 pages, a very thorough grounding that manages to encompass not only basic shapes, but also some specific flower types (Clematis, Roses, Delphiniums and Stocks), also showing them in context and not just as isolated blooms.If you want a good starting place for painting flowers, this is it. If you want to get more serious, there are plenty of books which will help you, but if you just want to be able to put flowers in a more general painting and have them look convincing and not out of place, this may very well be all you need.