Contemporary Flowers in Mixed Media by Soraya French

If you're looking for an approach to flower painting that differs from the more detailed approach of botanical illustration, you'll find it here. SorayaÕ's flowers are a riot of colour and shimmer on the page just as they would in real life. Forms are not harshly defined and appear as shapes that capture the essence of their subject rather than their appearance. To achieve this, Soraya uses watercolour, oils, gouache, pastel and ink, not as an end in itself but rather the means to create some truly stunning images. Her flowers appear in the wild, in arrangements, in vases, woodlands and even a market. Alongside pigments, Soraya will show you how to use grounds, gels, pastes and collage as well as interference and iridescent colours to achieve novel effects and textures. Again, though, these do not appear simply for themselves but as a means of expression and to portray the sheer joy of flower painting. This is a truly inspiring book that will give you a whole new and exciting outlook on flower painting.

• Batsford
• Hardback
• 128 pages
• Colour throughout