Painting the Secret World of Nature in Watercolour

London: Search Press. Very Good/Very Good. 1987. First Edition. Hard Cover. 4to 0855325852 Dust jacket complete in a clear protective sleeve. Yellow cloth with bright silver titling on spine. No ownership inscription.Bumped corners. 142 pages clean and tight. In Painting the Secret World of Nature four distinguished and skilled watercolourists - Sylvia Frattini, James Lester, Benjamin Perkins and Rosanne Sanders - demonstrate how they approach a challenging task and succeed in presenting an unusual view of the natural world. For this is not a book of broad landscapes or animal life; essentially it presents the small-scale, intimate view: the tiny detail, the fallen leaf, the budding flower or bulb, the insect, the nook, the cranny, in such close-up that the human eye often either ignores it or fails to see it. As Rosanne Sanders puts it, `What excites me as an artist is how whole worlds can be found in one small piece of hedgerow or bank'. And there is an additional pleasure in these artists' work - for quite often they are seen to be tackling the same subject - a bunch of snowdrops, a group of red poppies, or a bank of bushes and undergrowth - in their own individual ways. These provide a fascinating contrast both for the aspirant painter and for the nature-lover, especially as each of the artists lays stress on the importance, indeed the vital need, of preserving our countryside and woodland heritage. And this is something which their paintings achieve as well. Painting the Secret World of Nature is not only profusely illustrated in colour throughout the book but it also includes over 30 step-by-step demonstrations (including sketches) which will be invaluable examples for both professional and amateur painters to follow. .