Learning to paint is a nice hobby to help you relax, and can even turn into a nice home business, selling prints locally or online. Use with biodegradable watercolour paints and recycled art paper.
Watercolor Made Simple is a lovely book to explore your creativity and learn to paint in watercolours. It features easy tutorials and beautifully illustrated step-by-step projects to get familiar with paints, brushes and paper. Learn the fundamentals of watercolour washes and brushtrokes, simple colour theory and mixing and use a sketchbook to gather information.
You’ll first learn all about watercolour techniques like ‘wet on wet’ and then jump right in to find watercolour and papercrafting projects (gift tags, bookmarks and greetings cards) to feature your paintings of:
- River rocks
- Leafy wreath
- Apple on a stem
- Woodland mushrooms
- Floral bouquet
- A colourful moth
- Swallow in flight
- Dragonfly
- Lamb in a field
Nicki Traikos teaches thousands of students to paint in watercolour. A self-taught artist, she work has appeared extensively in the media. She lives in Ontario, Canada.
quality (vegan) watercolour paint brushes
Natural Earth Paint Watercolour Brushes are just what the animal-friendly artist ordered! These synthetic bristles (so no animals harmed) and are professional level for watercolour painting. Made with sustainably-grown wood handles and varnished with a nontoxic plant-based resin, the bristles mimic mongoose hair (for a perfect cross between sable and hog in softness, but are animal-kind). The set of 4 includes:
- Filbert (curved bristle top) #6
- Round (fine tip) #8
- Filbert (curved bristle top) #12
- Bright (rectangular bristle shape) #16.
Run paintbrushes under water (agitate lightly) to remove adhesive coating before use, never leave brushes in water. Lay flat to dry, to preserve shape.
A one-time purchase from Canada, The Wonder Forest paintbrushes are worth buying for years of painting your favourite pictures. They are also free from animal fur (conventional brushes often use squirrel or badger fur) but are of the same quality. The brushes have ultra-pointed tips for incredible details, plus you can buy (individually or as part of a set) a one-inch wide wash brush, with bristles that snap right back to a point, without fraying. Each brush is individually wrapped and protected (recycle soft plastics at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not collect). The range also includes a mop brush, a petal brush and a dagger brush (also good for calligraphic strokes).
paint woodland wildlife & botanicals
Watercolour in Nature is a lovely book by nature illustrator Rosalie, who has hikes through countless forests with her sketchbook and watercolours, documenting the plants, animals and landscapes she encounters. She has also taught tens of thousands of people to paint and appreciate nature’s beauty through her popular classes.
In this book, she shows how to paint 20 insects, fungi, birds, botanicals and mammals in her vibrant wet-on-dry- watercolour style. Also learn to become a better observer of the outdoors, take your own reference photos and paint from nature, long after you finish projects in this book.
Rosalie Haizlett is artist-in-residence at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as National Audubon Society in Maine. She is currently based in West Virginia, USA.
a seasonal guide to botanical painting
A Year of Watercolour is a book to help you create beautiful botanical art, engage with the natural world around you and take pleasure in the changing seasons. Find over 30 step-by-step botanical paintings by artist Harriet de Winton. Learn to paint:
- Cherry blossoms & lambs in spring
- Honeybees & wildflowers in summer
- Oak leaves & harvest mice in winter
- Pine trees & snowdrops in winter
- Festive wreaths with winter berries
Harriet’s other book Birds, Bees & Blossoms offers 30 more projects with a guide to painting beautiful butterflies, bumblebees, birds and botanicals from aroudn the world, plus a guide to composing stunning patterns and scenes. The projects include:
- Bengal tiger
- Chilean flamingo
- Prickly pear
- Zebra
- Bumblebee
- Garden tiger moth
- Peacock
- White-tailed deer
- Polar bear
- Arctic poppy
Harriet de Winton is an award-winning watercolour artist based in Devon. Painting is her therapy which has led to her teaching retreats run by Kirstie Allsopp and River Cottage.
a simple practical guide to drawing birds
Learning to paint is a nice hobby to help you relax, and can even turn into a nice home business, selling prints locally or online. Drawing Birds is a practical guide introducing the fundamentals of drawing birds, from finches to flamingos. It includes step-by-step drawing projects to break down each step, making it accessible for complete beginners. From proportions to feathered textures, this is the perfect guide for people who would like to draw birds. Use with recycled pencils and recycled art paper.
If photographing birds to draw, don’t use flash cameras (this can stress or kill), stay well away (from birds and nests), use zoom lenses and don’t make noises or flash lights (never play birdsong, it can confuse and attract predators).
The book begins by looking at the anatomy of birds including how feathers are arranged. Then the book progresses onto drawing birds in flight and in courtship rituals. From hummingbirds to albatrosses and from parrots to ducks, all birds are covered!
Marianne Taylor is a freelance nature writer, photographer and illustrator whose passion for natural history and animals has been the guiding force in her life. When not writing about nature, she is usually found in the countryside (or by the sea) learning from observing wildlife.
