Watercolour painting - Painting the secret world of nature
Painting the Secret World of Nature is a watercolour book and a nature-lover's book with a difference.
Each of the four artists - Sylvia Frattini, James Lester, Benjamin Perkins, Rosanne Sanders - was invited to hunt out, draw and paint the small detail, the delicate structure: the veins of leaves, the grainy texture of bark or stonework, the exploding bud, the brilliant colours of a poppy, the tiered groups of fungie like velvet shank. They interpret these subjects in their own striking and contrasting styles, and in a manner that will surprise the reader with the extraordinary richness of nature even in its miniature forms. (Backcover of book – 1989 hardback Search Press edition)
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In Painting the Secret World of Nature four distinguished and skilled watercolourists - Sylvia Frattini, James Lester, Benjamin Perkins and Rosanne Sanders - demonstrate how they approach a challenging task and succeed in presenting an unusual view of the natural world. For this is not a book of broad landscapes or animal life; essentially it presents the small-scale, intimate view: the tiny detail, the fallen leaf, the budding flower or bulb, the insect, the nook, the cranny, in such close-up that the human eye often either ignores it or fails to see it. As Rosanne Sanders puts it, `What excites me as an artist is how whole worlds can be found in one small piece of hedgerow or bank'.
And there is an additional pleasure in these artists' work - for quite often they are seen to be tackling the same subject - a bunch of snowdrops, a group of red poppies, or a bank of bushes and undergrowth - in their own individual ways. These provide a fascinating contrast both for the aspirant painter and for the nature-lover, especially as each of the artists lays stress on the importance, indeed the vital need, of preserving our countryside and woodland heritage. And this is something which their paintings achieve as well.
Painting the Secret World of Nature is not only profusely illustrated in colour throughout the book but it also includes over 30 step-by-step demonstrations (including sketches) which will be invaluable examples for both professional and amateur painters to follow. (Backcover of book – 1989 hardback Search Press edition) |
The Authors
SYLVIA FRATTINI was born in Cumbria. She trained at Carlisle and Hornsey Colleges of Art, and now lives in Buckinghamshire. She is head of art at a high school in Luton. She has had several one-painter shows, and regularly exhibits in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour.
JAMES LESTER has spent many years as a freelance art director and illustrator. He has painted throughout his working life and, in recent years especially, in watercolour which has taken over from much of his other work. He regularly exhibits at London galleries and he has had a one-man exhibition in Kent. He works in watercolour because he feels the inherent qualities of the medium are so much in sympathy with the nature of the English landscape.
BENJAMIN PERKINS born in 1932, was educated at Sherborne, Trinity College, Oxford, and studied rural estate management at the Royal Agriculture College, Cirencester. He now works as a painter and writer, and has had two books published, Trees (1984), the painting and drawings in which won him an RHS Gold Medal, and A Secret Landscape (1986). He lives in Suffolk.
ROSANNE SANDERS was born at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire and grew up in the country. She was educated at Roedean, and after that took a one-year basic course at High Wycombe College of Art, but, as she did not paint for many years thereafter, she regards herself essentially as selftaught. After buying a Devon cottage she wrote and illustrated Portrait of a Country Garden (1980). She has exhibited at the Mall Galleries, at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and in Tunbridge Wells. She has won three gold medals for watercolours from the Royal Horticultural Society, and a Royal Academy Miniature Award. (Backcover of book – 1989 hardback Search Press edition)
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Contents : |
| Preface |
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| Sylvia Frattini - Exploring the detail of nature |
Method and materials
Flowering waterlilies
Spring promise
Past and present
Autumn poppies
Curious
Woodland in springtime
Summer shore
Summertime miniature landscape
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James Lester - Painting with freedom and control |
Method
Primroses
Popies
Brambles
Rose hips
Buttercups
Traveler's joy
Bindweed
Butterflies and other insects |
Benjamin Perkins - Focusing on the individuality of plants |
February bluebells
Horse chestnut bud burst
Shaggy ink cap
Dog rose
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Flowers Stages 1 and 2
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Leaves Stages 1 and 2
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The finished painting
Honeysuckle
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Stages 1 to 4
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The finished painting
Violets
Poppies
Snowdrops
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Stages 1 to 4
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The finished painting
Mixed wild flowers
Velvet shank
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Rosanne Sanders - Developing themes |
Paper
Stokenham
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Preliminary work
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White roses
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Honeysuckle flowers
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The finished painting
The tree stump
Snowdrops
Summer cliffs
Autumn woods
Bluebells
Seasonal theme picture - Autumn
From my sketchbook
About the authors
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About the authors |
Sylvia Frattini
James Lester
Benjamin Perkins
Rosanne Sanders |
| Index |
(Source –1989 hardback Search Press edition) |
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