Kew

The Watercolour A to Z of Trees and Foliage by Adelene Fletcher is a beautiful book, perfect for both beginner and the more advanced watercolourist. It is well set out with clear illustrations and full instructions, helpfully including colour swatches for the paints used for each tree. After some initial instructional pages, mainly aimed at newcomers to watercolour, there is helpful technique information, ideas useful to all painters. The subsequent chapters each focus on one tree, twenty four in all, ranging from favourites, Common Oak and Willow, to the more exotic, Windmill Palm and Ginko/Maidenhair. If you want to paint the glorious autumn colours of Acers or the Olive Trees from your Mediterranean holiday, this is the book for you! A third short section touches on use of trees in varied landscape settings. It contains more technique tips for further inspiration. I am sure this book is going to be a great help to me. The rear cover tells me that its purchase supports the vital work of Kew Botanical Gardens in London which must have plenty more to inspire the author should she wish to produce a second, or similar, volume. This, I feel, would be a welcome future addition to a painter's bookshelf. -- Shirley Farrant Anstey * Amazon *