Contains 15 botanical projects, this handy guide explores essential colour theory and fundamental watercolour technique using a simple step-by-step process.

ISBN 9781800922440
Publisher Search Press
Format BC Paperback
Dimensions 155mm x 215mm
Page Extent 64
Pub Date Jan 2025

Create over 100 vibrant watercolour mixes and paint a range of inspiring botanicals, including flowers, leaves, seedheads and bulbs, with award-winning artist and colour-mixing expert Julie Collins.

This practical, colourful guide features 15 beautiful botanical subjects such as geranium, hydrangea, maple leaf, cardoon and allium bulb. Each project includes full colour recipes with ratios and finished swatches for inspiration, while five step-by-step demonstrations guide you through the process from colour selection to completed painting.

Inside, you’ll discover comprehensive colour information including a colour wheel and guide to pure and mixed pigments, alongside essential watercolour techniques such as wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, washes and lifting. Helpful tips and tricks are included throughout.

Designed to build confidence and deepen your understanding of colour, this inspiring guide will help you create your own vibrant, expressive watercolour mixes with ease.

About Julie Collins
Julie Collins studied Fine Art at the University of Reading and has worked as an artist, writer and teacher ever since. She has written numerous colour mixing guides and artist problem-solving books, selling over 80,000 copies, and also contributes to Leisure Painter and The Artist magazine. She works from her studio in Hampshire, UK, where she continues to explore her passion for painting, drawing and crafts.

Julie has received several prestigious awards for her painting, including recognition from the Royal Watercolour Society, the Royal West of England Academy and ING Discerning Eye. She was elected a Member of the Society of Women Artists and joined the SWA Council in 2022. In 2025, she was made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and became a member of the Painter-Stainer’s Art Society.