Watercolour Nature Unleashed || Jane Betteridge

This is a revised and updated edition of Jane’s Dynamic Watercolours, which appeared in 2019. The blurbs adds that, as well as being revised, the book is “revitalised” although, as I don’t have access to the original, I can’t say what that entails. You can read the original review here.

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Dynamic Watercolours || Jane Betteridge

This is an interesting approach to watercolour that concentrates as much on technical opportunities as it does on pure creativity. That’s not to imply that Jane is devoid of ideas – she’s brimming with them – but this is an exploration of what can be done with what’s often regarded as quite a demure medium when you push and stretch it to its limits.

Whether you like the results will depend a lot on how you feel about “pure” watercolour, about which plenty has been written. Even if this isn’t your cup of tea you will, I think, be impressed by what Jane manages to achieve and the boldness with which she’s prepared to go out on something of a limb, both technically and creatively. When you find innovative ways of working, it’s also worth looking for the same in your method of expression and this is a very happy marriage of those two strands.

So, if you’re still with me, I think we’ve established that you have a sense of adventure and are up for a challenge. Will you get that? Emphatically, yes, you will. Jane works with surfaces, textured grounds, crackle and modelling pastes and applied materials. She attacks her images with wire brushes and stamps as well as deploying inks and granulations, salt, impasto and pearlescent colours. Does that sound like a theme park ride? Prepare to hang on.

Search Press have become adept at making the illustrations an integral part of their books, rather than, more formal counterpoints to the text. The result can be an assault on the senses and an overall impression of busyness that can sometimes be difficult to take in at a glance. Delve further though and it all becomes clear as themes and subjects coalesce out of the wider view. Add to this Jane’s very clear sense of where she’s going and how she wants to get there and you land up with a coherent composition that is at once exciting and convincing.

If this isn’t a book that immediately excites you, you might find it somewhat hard to like. However, stay with it and I think you’ll be at least partly convinced by the end.

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Watercolours Unleashed || Jane Betteridge

This is one of those unfortunate titles that tells you very little about the content of the book, yet is almost impossible to think of an alternative for. If you’re not familiar with Jane’s work, you’re going to be a little nonplussed. It’s tempting to class it as mixed-media, but it’s not exactly that, because what she works with are mainly water-based media, though with quite a lot of ink thrown (almost literally) in.

The results are, I think, a bit Marmite; you’re either going to love them or hate them, though you should find them intriguing. Personally, I admire her experimentation and, when it works, it’s superb and unmatched. Sometimes, I’m not so sure. I do like the book, though. I think it’s honest, and prepared to take risks. I also don’t get the sense of this being the more successful tip of an iceberg of failed attempts piling up round the artist’s feet. If you like the idea of the watercolour version of taking a line for a walk, give this a look. If it does nothing else, it’ll stimulate your own experimental juices and get you going off on a track of your own.

The Society For All Artists (www.saa.co.uk) has produced a DVD to accompany the book. This is worth seeking out as it gives you a chance to see Jane in action, mainly with inks, and adds a sense of the dynamism that the printed page doesn’t quite convey.

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