The Artist's Guide to Drawing Realistic Animals is the perfect book for anyone who wants comprehensive, illustrated instruction for drawing their favorite domestic & wild mammals & birds. Wildlife illustration expert Doug Lindstrand provides step-by-step guidance on capturing everything from cats, wolves, & deer to elephants, polar bears, & eagle, all in a variety of accurate & classic poses. Readers will learn time-honoured drawing techniques they can use not only to create lifelike animals but also as a foundation for their future art projects. About the Author Doug Lindstr&, who specialises in wildlife illustration & photography, honed his artistic expertise by living in the Alaskan wilderness & studying wild animals. He is the author of eight successful books on drawing instruction, including Alaska Sketchbook & Drawing America's Wildlife. ...

An attractive handy guide to the fascinating world of watercolour, Collins Artist's Little Book of Watercolour is an essential sourcebook for artists of all levels of experience & ability. Full of fascinating facts & useful information about all aspects of watercolour, this book is a visual delight. It explores the paints & pigments themselves, the equipment, surfaces & accessories of watercolour painting & illustrates many different techniques. Collins Artist's Little Book of Watercolour encourages you to make the most of your watercolour painting by understanding what different materials can achieve & experimenting with different surfaces & techniques, thus revealing watercolour's full potential. Other water-based media, like gouache & water-soluble pencils, are also covered in this useful little book & the range of work from many different artists is inspirational. About the Author Simon Jennings trained at the Royal College of Art, London & has been a visiting lecturer at a number of leading art schools. He has conceived & designed many books on art and design, including the ' Collins Complete Artist's Manual' & ' Collins Artist's Colour Manual'. ...

In this new film, David shows us how to get mood, atmosphere & light into our paintings. He sketches in Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire & the Cotswolds, painting a summer sunlit farm, a splashing mountain waterfall, a bridge, an early morning misty lake & a rocky cove. He then produces two finished paintings from these sketches, working in his studio. ...

For many years a tutor for Sketching Party Holidays, Joy gives her aesthetic impressions, her approach to the various challenges & her rapport with the wildlife encountered in the New Forest. Tree magic – the New Forest, it is all there. Colour, shape & form, textures & excitement, all waiting for pen, pencil or paint & a discerning eye & enthusiasm! Primarily this book is about watercolour but it also shows all the different directions into which I was led both in subject matter & media. ...

Follow artist & art instructor Julie Askew's journey around our diverse planet through her beautiful sketches & paintings, depicted here along with notes from the artist herself. This stunning book features over 200 of her works, showing how she has used her extensive travels & her love of the natural world as her inspiration. From dramatic African landscapes, to India's magnificent wildlife, & on to portraits of Indonesian traditional dress, the range of subjects is immense. Her comments & remarks combine artistic tips & diary extracts charting her voyage, thus offering a rare insight into an artist's mind. This beautiful book is perfect for those wishing to see how Julie has tackled her vast range of themes, & who would like to benefit from her tips & experience. It's also great for those who are simply admirers of these gorgeous artworks. ...

Billy Showell is a well-respected contemporary artist whose watercolour flower portraits have earned her the respect of watercolour artists all over the world. Worked to the same degree of accuracy as traditional botanical paintings, Billy's compositions are given a more contemporary twist, combining her unique eye for design with her love of flowers. In this book, 40 flower portraits are presented, arranged in alphabetical order, each one accompanied by small studies, details, step-by-step instructions & the colour mixes used to accomplish the finished work. At the start of the book there are useful sections on the materials & equipment needed & the main techniques used, including wet-into-wet, colour blending, lifting out, layering glazes, dry brushing & colour mixing, & at the end of the book Billy gives her own unique slant on composition & discusses the importance of creating a sketchbook. Whether you love to paint, or simply love flowers, this book will delight & inspire you. About the Author Billy Showell graduated from St Martins School of Art with a B.A. in fashion design, but was irresistably drawn to painting & illustration. In 1993 she set course for a career as an artist & now paints, illustrates & teaches botanical painting at her studio & art clubs in the UK, USA & Australia. She lives in Tunbridge Wells, UK with her husband & two sons. Billy has been awarded five Certificates of Botanical Merit from the Society of Botanical Artists & her first book on watercolour flower portraits has been hugely successful in the UK & abroad. Billy's paintings are collected by her followers the world over & many are available as limited edition prints. Review from The Artist October 2010 Issue Lavishly & colourfully illustrated from start to finish, this book is a feast for the eyes. Its the third book by watercolour artist Billy Showell & in it she explains how she produces her detailed watercolour flower paintings with their unique, contemporary edge. Approaching her subjects with the same level of accuracy as botanical artists, Billys flowers are meticulous & realistic, but infused with her distinctive sense of design to give them a modern twist. She says that, for her, achieving the right design & composition are as important as attaining the true colours & shapes of every individual flower. The first part of this book gives information on materials & equipment needed, as well as clear instructions on the main techniques used, including wet-in-wet, laying glazes, dry brushing, lifting out, using body colour, masking & creating texture and pattern. There are details on colour mixing & on how to get the best out of brushes as well as insights into composition ideas & on keeping a sketchbook. Then, arranged in alphabetical order, are detailed step-by-step instructions showing how to paint 40 specific flower portraits, each accompanied by small studies, first drawing stages, methods of applying paint & a colour swatch illustrating the palette & paint mixes used for the finished work. If you are a Billy Showell fan
- & she has many throughout the world
- then you will need no further recommendation. If you are new to her work, you will be delighted at the clarity of instruction, the delicacy & vibrancy of the paintings, & the invaluable advice & inspiration this book offers. Susie Hodge

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Set of four 120ml tubes of high quality Chroma A2 student acrylic paints in attractive low gloss colours.

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As the interest in non-representational art grows & artists become more adventurous, this important book helps the reader make the move towards abstract art through the use of colour
- the hallmark of Claire Harrigan's work in mixed media. Fantastically illustrated throughout & with sound technical advice, the book covers: Understanding Abstract Art: concepts & influences; Beginnings: inspiration, starting points & preliminary work; Varied subject matter: still life, flowers, buildings & figures with details on how they evolved from the original inspiration; Basic Design: composition & the importance of structure; Surface &

Colour: create mood, harmonies, contrast & tone; plus combining texture with techniques & colour; Considering & choosing different media: characteristics of acrylic, gouache, watercolour, oil, pastel & collage; & Mixed Media: the painting process of specific paintings, the compatibility of different media, both technically & visually; It also uncovers: Visual Impact: a look at, & discussion of, various examples; Analysis & selection: the process of abstraction & semi-abstraction may involve analysis, simplification, distortion or exaggeration as well as an emphasis on elements such as line, shape & colour, all demonstrated in different paintings; A step-by-step look at Claire Harrigan's paintings; &, Pure Abstraction: a look at paintings without any evidence of the initial subject matter or inspiration.


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