Natural History Painting with the Eden Project || Rosie Martin & Meriel Thurstan

Many, many congratulations to the authors (and their editor) for not over-egging a successful formula and producing Yet More Flower Painting with the EP. And much, much respect to them for proving that they’re much more than (very good) flower painters.

In fact, the subject matter of their third book is a surprise on every page, partly because you just don’t see this sort of thing in painting books but also because they’ve managed to turn what are frequently unconsidered trifles into sublime little works of art. There are birds, fish, shells, pebbles, feathers, bark, beetles, rocks, crystals – the contents of a compendium of country walks, in fact and they all have the kind of beauty you’re often encouraged to look for but somehow all too often fail to see. I don’t care if you tell me you’d never want to paint these yourself, just buy the book and marvel at what Rosie and Meriel have found (and then tell me you won’t maybe just have a bit of a go, y’know, just because).

At a practical level, because that’s what’s being pitched here, this is a book about colours and textures and also about finding subjects in the unlikeliest of places. It’s about looking, seeing and interpreting and what you can do if you just keep your eyes and your mind open. It’s a revelation.

	Natural History Painting with the Eden Project Book (Hardback) with Rosie Martin

Contemporary Botanical Illustration With The Eden Project || Rosie Martin & Meriel Thurstan

This is the successor to Rosie and Meriel’s deservedly popular Botanical Illustration Course with the Eden Project, which appeared a couple of years ago. Rather than simply give us more of the same, this time the pair have concentrated on a wider variety of plant material and also foliage and have also extended their reach to some of the colours that students of the previous book reported that they had trouble with. Thus we get subtle shades of blue and pink, the huge variety of greens and even that forbidden territory: black.

Although the intention here, as before, is to make the book accessible to the more general painter, there is no compromise on the quality of the artwork and the authors are fortunate in having access to some fine contemporary botanical artists (hence the title), who provide excellent examples of both their subject matter and what can be done in the medium. Although the progress of the book is not step-by-step as such, there are several places where stage illustrations are used and there are frequent analyses of colour and palette that manage successfully to get to the heart of the matter.

This is very much a book for the serious and more experienced flower painter. Where the previous book provided an introduction for those who already had some facility, it would be a good idea to have studied at least one other manual before attempting this one. Let’s face it, there is a great number of books out there and you’re spoiled for choice and suitability! Given that, it’s quite an achievement to produce something that adds to the canon without duplicating what’s already there.

Batsford 2008
£19.99

	Contemporary Botanical Illustration With The Eden Project Book with Rosie Martin

Botanical Illustration Course || Rosie Martin & Meriel Thurstan

Books on flower painting fall into roughly three categories: flowers as part of a larger painting, flower and plant portraits and botanical illustration. Each one gets progressively more detailed and more obsessed with absolute botanical accuracy. At its very highest level, a single painting of a flower will be used to stand for a whole species and will define it for identification purposes in a way that a photograph (which will always be specific to an individual specimen) cannot.

For the general painter, this level of detail is unnecessary. The main thing is that a flower should look like a flower. If someone comes in and sees you painting, what you’d like them to say is “that’s a nice daffodil” not, “that’s nice, what is it?”. So, when you’re looking for a book on flower painting, for the most part, the flower portrait level is what you need. If you want a botanically purist approach, then Coral Guest’s Painting Flowers in Watercolour, published by A & C Black, has Kew’s imprimatur.

However, if you want a little less than obsessive detail, then this book will fit the bill very nicely. Coming with the authority of the world-famous Eden Project, it’s a bit more than just flower portraits, but does allow the possibility of slightly softer paintings which, by that means, tend to look more like living plants than museum specimens. Of its type, it’s probably the best of the current crop of flower painting books.

The word “course” can conjure up the image of something very dry that makes you work through endless exercises before you’re actually allowed to do anything pictorial. While there is a lot of information on drawing, mark-making, shapes, colours, tones and shadows, the authors actually do a lot of the work for you. That doesn’t mean to say that you can just flick through the book and be a flower painter (of course), but it does make for a colourful production and one which leads by example. All those little sketches, colour grids and practice images are going to get you wanting to try it for yourself; you’re going to be thinking “can you really make it do that?”.

Just looking through the book, the sense is of a wealth of information that can’t be taken in at one sitting and this is borne out in practice. Although this is a book you can open almost at random and pick up ideas from, it’s also very carefully and rather cleverly structured. Although every chapter results in and illustrates finished work, it’s actually progressive and you’ll find that you can build up skills by also working through it from beginning to end.

Year published: 2006
List price: £18.99

	Botanical Illustration Course With The Eden Project Book (Paperback) with Rosie Martin