Take a stroll through the garden with Susan Harrison-Tustain as she shows you how to paint glorious blooming beauties in their natural settings. Susan shares her techniques for capturing vibrant colors, realistic textures and lively dances of light. For a special touch of fun, she'll show you how to add ladybugs, bumblebees, dewdrops, chewed leaves and other whimsical details to your flower paintings. Lush with large reproduc-tions of Susan's colorful, light-filled florals--along with 3 complete painting demonstrations and 14 mini-demos--Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor will teach you to paint flowers with character and life.

"There's something magical about dew- drops, bumblebees, butterflies,, lady- bugs, withered flowers and chewed leaves. These final touches give life and movement to your painting Listen to your viewers "ooh" and "ahh" when they spy the glistening dewdrop, espe-cially if it looks as if it's just about to roll off the petal or leaf'"

            --SUSAN HARRISON-TUSTAIN

Starting with loose washes and finishing with fine details, Susan defines her painting style as "realism with a soul." Her compositions draw you in--make you feel as though you could lean into the scene to smell the roses or touch the soft petals. In this book, she illustrates her techniques so you, too, can capture the "essence" of flowers in watercolor.

·TOOLSAND MATERIALS. Susan offers advice on the best paints, brushes, paper and other supplies to use for flower painting.

  · COLOR. Learn about transparent, opaque and sedimentary pigments as they relate to flower painting--and why Susan chooses partic- ular colors and avoids others.

·TECHNIQUES. Master Susan's unique priming method-along with many other tech- niques-to create rich darks, delicate lights and glowing brights.

·STEP-BY-STEPTEXTURES. Follow along with quick demonstrations to achieve a wide variety of textures, from fragile petals to shiny leaves.

· LIFELIKE DETAILS. Learn to paint dew- drops, chewed leaves, ladybugs and other realis- tic details that make your paintings come alive.

In 17 stunning, step-by-step demonstrations, Susan shows you how to use everything you've learned to create glowing floral paintings. Throughout, she emphasizes the importance of using your own feelings about the scene to make your painting truly one of a kind.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

Tools and Materials

CHAPTER 2

Familiarize Yourself

With Color Behaviors

CIIAPTER 3

Watercolor Techniques

for Florals

CAPTER 4

Floral Textures

Step by Step

CHAPTER 5

Adding Life to

Your Florals 

CGAPTER 6

Painting Florals

With Character

GALLERY

CONCLUSION

INDEX