Wow, what a beautiful and useful art instruction book! It is a joy for the eye and the heart to see the gorgeous illustrations, the elegant layout. Two main sections: drawing and painting. The tutorials are useful and inspiring, tools and techniques are simply presented, there is a glossary too. Interesting the clock method. As it does not contain some basic know-how I would not recommend it for beginners, only for intermediate painters.

Artist Kluglein shows you a new way of seeing with her techniques of hyperfocus on a leaf. Excellent drawings. I even did the first flower and leaf drawing. She broke down the process into step by step from sketching to filling it with values and colors. Barks and stems, drawing those will be meditation.

Finely elaborated not only in text but in its imagery. Detailed enough for beginners, but sophisticated enough to entice intermediates. The supplies list for each sketch and painting are extremely helpful, especially for the novice artist. Whether the purpose of getting Drawing and Painting Botanicals is as a guide or as a decorative tome the exquisite detail found within is sure to delight all artists and art lovers.

A book full of stunning pictures and projects for any artist wishing to master drawing and painting botanicals. A variety of media are used and the different textures and colours are explored. The book is a feast for the eyes and would suit all levels to some extent from beginner to advanced. There is enough variety and examples given for an artist to be able to use the skills mastered to explore and attempt a wider selection of botanicals with confidence. A lovely book overall.

AUTHOR

Karen Kluglein is the author of Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists. Select link above to read more about her.

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?

Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists is unashamedly directed to the botanical artist community and those who aspire to the profession.

SYNOPSIS

Context is everything and before beginning the review of Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists I thought that you may like to know a little of the historic beginnings and importance of botanical art.

Before the advent of mechanical means for capturing botanical subjects artists and illustrators were the sole source for capturing plant forms for posterity. The practice of Botanical Illustration can be traced back through history to approximately 70 AD. The Greek botanist Pedanius Dioscorides produced the first officially recognized book of plant species for medical purposes. It wasn't until the 1800's and the explosion of exploration that the botanical illustrator became a respected profession in the eyes of the public. Previously, it was the preserve of physicians, pharmacists, botanical scientists, and gardeners for identification, analysis, and classification plant species who were respected. However, it was during the these halcyon days of worldwide discovery that artists and illustrators began to make significant contributions to the scientific publications of the day. Together with improvements in the printing of illustrations, the art of botanical illustration was set to change the world.

Botanical Artists became famous with such illuminated names as:

PIERRE-JOSEPH REDOUTÉ (1766 – 1854)

MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647 – 1717)

FRANZ AND FERDINAND BAUER (1750 and 1850)

MARIANNE NORTH (1830 – 1890)

ANNE PRATT (1806 – 1893)

ERNST HAECKEL (1834-1919)

Today photographs have replaced most illustrations in scientific journals. Botanical artists are still highly sought after and often editors of publications will engage a botanical artist to create a greater sense of importance in place of a mere photograph.

You may be one of many aspiring artists who find botanical illustration to be worthy of further study and you would do well to begin your art journey with, Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists.

Drawing and Painting Botanicals for artists, was produced by Karen Kluglein. She is a freelance painter and illustrator of significant talent and skill.

Kluglein has produced a concise yet inspirational work that is an essential prerequisite for anyone wishing to quickly enjoy the process of painting or drawing botanical subjects. The pages are full of both color and monochrome images, illustrations and photographs of Kluglein's own handiwork. The chapters are well structured with a Key Terms section early-on to assist newcomers in getting to grips with the jargon. There are silverpoint illustrations that immediately caught my eye, as I very much enjoy that medium for certain subjects. Beginning with the mediums and supplies, the author quickly moves on to share the essential drawing techniques that can elevate your work considerably. You will learn the importance of values, tones and highlights in creating beautiful botanical illustrations. Kluglein, throughout the book heralds the primacy of proficiency in the fundamentals of drawing. Invaluable information sits comfortably next to spectacular color illustrations for an esthetically pleasing viewing experience. As the book progresses, there are step by step methods for producing your own homegrown botanical art. On page 53 you will find the suggested method to draw in the much maligned color pencil a Blackberry in six easy stages. A range of media are explored from gouache to acrylic paint and color pencils to watercolors. Each one with a brief nugget of advice to help keep you on track. Brushes, painting surfaces and painting such as washes, layering, lifting, graduations, and dry brush techniques are covered. There are suggested exercises for you to try out complete with examples of how it should look when you are complete.

She goes on to mention color mapping, natural hair brush types and sizes, painting surfaces, paper weights, surface texture as well as vellum. She explains how to attack overlaps, how to change a petal shape, fix spots, mottling, how to add texture-final details and how to finish.

CONCLUSION

Karen Kluglein has put together an excellent reference book for aspiring botanical artists. She provides tips-and-tricks for all types of media, art surfaces, supplies, errors, and techniques. She has created a wonderful book that will add to any home or office.

A lovely and instructional resource for those interested in botanical artwork: covering some interesting history on the subject before detailing practical advice and tips about different materials and developing observational skills.

Beautiful instructional manual for those interested in learning a variety of art techniques for creating botanicals. Gorgeous recreations with step-by-step instructions make this an easy follow for readers of all skill levels.

The pages in this book are very neatly organized which I enjoyed. I would have liked some more in between pictures. I did a few of the projects, while adding personalized bits and bobs, and found that I learned quite a bit. I hadn’t worked with watercolors in a while and this book was a welcoming refresher of a lot of small details I had forgotten. I wish it was longer, had more examples, and gave more step by step instructions because that would make it more valuable to a wider audience.

This is a phenomenally beautiful art instruction book that goes through very detailed instructions on how to draw and paint fruits, flowers, leaves and other botanicals. The author (who is a very celebrated professional artist) goes into materials, color basics and so on. She also provides step-by-step instructions for a variety of projects. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that after reading it I really have zero faith at all that I could ever replicate this in any way. It's all the sort of "and then then a miracle occurred" kind of painting and drawing (generally by step 2!) that you see when you watch someone who is phenomenally talented work. I am so in awe of her abilities, but this is not the kind of book that somehow passed them on to me. Shrug. That's okay, I still enjoyed it just to view her work. Art students will perhaps have much better results. It's definitely a four star book for me, which is "really liked it."

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Good illustrations and step by step instructions on how to draw leaves, flowers and fruit. I like how it tells you what to use for each drawing. Easy flick through book as well, so you can pick what you would like to draw.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.