Anna Mason's Watercolour World

Anna Mason’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 you through her method of working with four beautiful step-by-step projects: a blackberry, an autumn leaf, a sunflower and a garden bird. Each project contains a traceable outline. The book is suitable for beginners or for more experienced artists looking to refine their style or try new techniques.

Book Contents

Welcome to my world 6
How I got here 8
The Inspiration 10
Being in nature 12
Being in gardens 14
The act of gardening 16
The experience of painting 18
The Approach 20
Detail and impact 22
Small subjects painted big 24
Painting from photographs 28
Photographing tips 30
Composing with your camera 32
It has to click for you 34
Realism 36
Understanding colour 38
Form and texture 40
‘Tuning in’ to see visual textures 42
The Painting
Method 46
My method: a 5-stage process 48
Drawing 50
Drawing process 52
Painting: my paints 54
Consistency and colour mixing 56
Brushes 62
Paper 63
Brush techniques 64
Transitions 68
The Projects 70
Blackberry 72
Maple Leaf 84
Sunflower 92
Blue Tit 102
Keys to Improving 116
Practice right 118
Exercises for practice 120
Making practice happen 124
Trust the method 126
Taking a strategic break 130
Sharing 134
Where you’re heading: flow 136
Outline drawings 140
Index 144