New book coming up!

Hello everyone,

The storm is battering the roses outside my studio window and the thunder is crashing so hard and loud that the house is shaking. This seems dramatic enough a background to announce my new book!

Negotiations and presentations have been going on behind the scenes for quite a while but yesterday I received my contract so I think I can take the plunge and let everybody know… I have signed for my second book, this time with Search Press. Since the idea of writing a book first came to me years ago they have been my dream publisher, the one I really wanted to work with. They publish worldwide and I also have the old secret dream that my book might be translated into French one day… Search Press are an ethical company who are keen to let me run wild with my cruelty-free brushes, recycled paper, plastic-free studio and vegan paints, so we have high compatibility. On top of all of this, the two people I have been working with- Katie the Editorial Director and Becky the Senior Editor who’s in charge of the project – are really nice to work with and they seem as exhilarated as I am about the whole thing.

The book is of course about botanical painting, this time themed around the seasons: four chapters and one tutorial a month, at different difficulty levels. This tulip ‘Queen of Night’ is the advanced tutorial for Spring. The title image is a palette of roses. The provisional title is A Year in Botanical Illustration, but that might change yet, as it won’t be out until 2022.

I am having a great time writing and illustrating and I hope when the book comes out, you’ll have as great a time reading it!

In the meanwhile… Happy Painting!