This is not a book of flower paintings, but a book on how to paint landscapes incorporating flowers. It assumes that you are already some type of landscape painter (although possibly not a very experienced one) and goes on from there.

In true Search Press tradition, though, there are also pages on what you need, which is useful if you are less experienced (don’t worry if you don’t have an easel, I don’t use one). I particularly liked the tip about the bucket - what a good idea! Most if not all of the items listed all artists will own, but I was particularly impressed with the pages on choosing a color palette for this type of painting. This is surely one of the most important (and least addressed) questions asked by anybody embarking on a change of direction, or a new painter. This is also true of the pages showing you what brushes to invest in, and what sort of effects they produce. Masking fluid is also "unmasked" in a whole project, and then it is on with the projects.

Here you are shown how to achieve the look of English flowers such as bluebells carpeting the woods, poppies on a farm, fields of wild flowers or roses around a door rather than painting detailed studies of close-up blooms. If you are a painter of this type of scene, or you aspire to be, this is a useful and helpful book.