Creativity through Nature

Ann Blockley

This is that rare, perhaps mythical, beast: a book that discusses the creative side of painting without quickly descending into the technical. There are no demonstrations or exercises and instructions are mainly confined to materials (often the less familiar) and what you can do with them. Results are left to your imagination, which is Ann’s real target.

A gallery of an artist’s work accompanied by a commentary can, while interesting, also be less than enlightening. Yes, they used paint and, yes, that is how they applied it. Here, however, Ann avoids all that and instead discusses the inspiration behind the image, why certain colours were used and how materials, colour and composition create mood and atmosphere. The danger is that it can become a bit esoteric, leaving you longing for a bit of technicality to give it shape, but Ann is above all that and this is genuinely fascinating and enlightening.

Batsford £18.99, 144 pages (H/B). ISBN 9781849946490