The blurb on Amazon claims that this book demystifies the art and practise of drawing. It absolutely does!!!

For an artist drawing is as much, if not more, about learning to see as it is about creating beautiful images. The creativity comes in how that is expressed on the page.

This book gives fabulous examples of the work of 50 great artists, as well as tips on techniques and exercises to try for yourself.

If I could I would make it a compulsory purchase for all our students!

Read This if you Want to be Really Great at Drawing.

By Selwyn Leamy

A truly excellent and inspiring book !

Succint, easy to read, no nonsense tips for improving your creativity and your creative output, this book is an absolute must-read for anyone wanting to improve their own artistic endeavours.

Buy it now! Especially if you attend our classes!

Siân 

When you are ready for the next step, showing and selling your work, this book will give you the encouragement you need. In fact, buy it before you think you are ready, and you might find you get there a lot sooner than you think!

Siân

'Hockney on Art' was the first book I read about Hockney, and it revolutionised my understanding not only of his work, but of perspective, time, Picasso, the Cubists, photography...               Siân

This book is simply amazing. While Alex powers takes  people as his subject matter, his approach to composition and design is easily applicable to any subject matter. I would recommend it as a 'Must Read' to anyone interested in painting, whether in watercolour or another medium.

if you are interested in portraits, his loose painting style is truly inspirational! He is definitely an ambassador for those of us who believe that time  spent planning a painting does not mean a tightly painted image, but rather frees the artist up to be expressive.

Siân

I found this book exciting.

Julie's composition, her placement of the flowers on the page and the balance of tone and colour is just lovely. And then she explores the paint, playing with colour.

If you are thinking of moving on from botanical illustration towards a looser style of floral painting take a look at this book.

Siân

Anyone who paints figurative and wishes to paint in a more abstract style should read this book.

It seems to me that people will often have a go at painting an abstract as a way of avoiding honest to goodness observation and drawing. It doesn't work, and this book explains why!

Kees van Aalst doesn't leave you high and dry though, he goes on to give excellent tips for moving towards abstract painting, and the part that conventional guidelines play in that progression. Very succintly and clearly written, you won't get bogged down while you are itching tog get painting.

Siân

I love this book. It gives an insight in to a very different way of thinking about painting and, in particular, some very interesting approaches to composition. It highlighted for me how influenced we are by the culture we live in, and how we can get bogged down into thinking there is a 'right way' to paint. Think again!

BOOKS FOR BEGINNERS

If we are honest, we thought this one was just going to a a piece of merchandising following the popular programme on Channel 4. We were wrong!

This is an excellent all round book for beginners! We think it is out of print now, but is still widely available second hand.

Again, a great book for beginners, with lots of information and some interesting projects.

Also out of print you are still likely to be able to get a second hand copy.