Colours of Nature: Botanical Painting

There are detailed discussion on homemade mixes of secondary/tertiary colours as well as discussions about the different brands available for each colour. All is done from the perspective of a botanical artist so how useful these paints are for the botanical subjects you may want to cover.

Having attended one of Sandrine's courses, I was keen to get her book and I am absolutely delighted with the result. Of all the Botanical books I have, hers is the most informative when it comes to colours and the mixing of same. Have almost finished reading it and it only arrived this morning, stopped half way through to mix a colour I had been pondering over for quite a while and am thrilled with the result. Well done Sandrine, a wonderful book which deserves to be on any artist's bookshelf.

I am a keen, experienced amateur botanical artist. Don't know why I didn't get this book years ago. Lots of detail about colour pigments and includes useful charts showing colour mixes.

As well as being beautifully produced and illustrated this book is an absolute mine of information on all aspects of botanical art. I think all botanical artists whether just starting out or more experienced would find it invaluable. I bought it because I felt that I needed more advice on colours and colour mixing but this book gives all that and so much much more. I don't think anybody who bought this book would be disappointed. It's excellent and well worth the money.

I love this book! I attended a short course taught by Sandrine last July and found her to be an expert teacher and a talented, sensitive botanical painter. I longed to review her method and here it is in clear detail. I find especially helpful her instructions for transferring an original drawing to watercolour paper and also her method of mixing grey for shadows and painting them in first.

Beautiful book, amazing attention to detail in all Sandrine’s paintings! Hugely informative!

This book is quite different from many botanical painting books. Sandrine has some interesting and probably quite original ideas on transparency, toxicity, and shadow mixing. She uses a different shadow mix for every different subject, based on the primary colours she is using for that subject. Her paintings are a real delight to look at.

I have read previous articles in the Artist & Illustrator magazine by this author and have enjoyed them. Her book is very well laid out and I have found the comparisons of the watercolour paints very helpful. The tutorials are good and so is the advice on mixing shadow colours.