Nature in Watercolour by Waltraud Nawratil

Nature in Watercolour by Waltraud Nawratil is a guide to creating expressive paintings exploring the beauty of each season. Waltraud guides you through a series of projects, each designed to explore new techniques and bring to life the vibrancy of the natural world.

In this book, Waltraud will introduce a number of innovative watercolour techniques aimed at developing your skills in creating textural effects, backgrounds, exciting colour combinations and so much more. You’ll learn how to create 30 loose, expressive floral paintings to create your own landscape of flowers, fruits and trees. Projects include a virant vase of spring flowers, dreamy waterlilies floating on a still summer pond, golden forests, autumn harvests and an exhuberant pink poinsettia with frost-tipped leaves to welcome in the winter months. Each project is completed in the author’s signature loose yet delicate watercolour painting style.

This book is a fantastic introduction to watercolour painting and is an essential guide in technical skill and loosing up your methods. Perfect for any watercolourist inspired by nature.

112 Page Paperback. 225 x 225mm.

LOOK INSIDE

• Opening reflections 6

• Materials + Equipment

• Painting surfaces 10, Brushes 10, Accessories 11, Paints 11

• Technique Focus

  • Composition: Flower meadow 14

  • Details: Poppy flowers 18

  • Chance: Blue and purple flowers 22

  • White: White daisy 26

  • Contrasts: Birch trees 30

  • Focus: Sunflower 34

• Projects:

  • Spring Message 40

  • Flowers from the Wayside 42

  • Summer is near — Poppies & Dandelions 44

  • Lime Tree in the Spring Light 46

  • Apple Tree in Blossom 48

  • Sun-dappled Spring Forest 50

  • A Profusion of Spring Flowers 52

  • Spring in the Mountains 54

  • Shaded Woods 58

  • Early Summer Meadow on the Forest Edge 60

  • Summer Harmony 62

  • Down by the River 64

  • Daisy Stars 66

  • The Ripening Grapes 68

  • Cow Parsley with Poppies 70

  • Dreamy Waterlilies 72

  • November Mood 76

  • Flaming Forests 78

  • Colourful Autumn Bouquet 80

  • Fiery Canopy 82

  • Autumnal Apple Harvest 84

  • In the Warm Autumn Light 86

  • The Forest is Colourful 88

  • Fading Summer 90

  • A Bouquet of Christmas Roses 94

  • Winter by the Lake 96

  • Rosy Red Amaryllis 98

  • Tree in a Snowstorm 100

  • White Flowers in Winter 102

  • Pink Poinsettia 104

• Gallery and final words 106

• About the author 110

• Acknowledgements 111

Waltraud Nawratil was born in Austria in 1947. Since the 1980s, she has lived with her family her husband and children in Schönering, Upper Austria. Her garden serves as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for her painting work.

In 1995 Waltraud started painting at a local primary school, where, searching for new challenges, she attended a watercolour painting course. She worked mainly with flower designs due to the bold, intense colours, but soon went on to include more designs from the entire palette of nature, such as tree-lined avenues and floral landscapes. Over time, she attended further painting courses to develop her technique and experiment with different media and materials.