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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2003
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© Ann Blockley 2003
Ann Blockley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007297207
Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780008123550
Version: 2014-10-27
Ann Blockley was born in Lancashire, where she spent the early years of her life. She moved with her family to the Cotswolds in 1975 when her late father, the painter G John Blockley, opened a gallery in Stow-on-the-Wold.
As a child, Ann was constantly painting and drawing but also enjoyed writing. After leaving school, she studied design and illustration at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, and later at Brighton Polytechnic. After graduating with a BA Honours Degree in Illustration, Ann launched straight into a successful and varied career as a freelance illustrator, working on many commissions for well-known companies. These included designs for greeting cards, tableware and tapestries, illustrations for educational and childrenâs books, images for packaging on everything from chocolate wrappers to shampoo bottles, and even a set of postage stamp designs for the Royal Mail.
Ann Blockley in her cottage garden with her dog, Mole.
Annâs style of painting was highly detailed and decorative for her commercial work but she was developing another, quite different and more personal style of using watercolour. Subjects for her own paintings were taken from the woods and fields surrounding the country cottage she still lives in with her husband and two children, and her paintings began to feature the poultry and pigs the family reared and the flowers Ann grew around the cottage.
Annâs father, who had written many painting books including Learn to Paint Pastels for HarperCollins, suggested that she too might write for them. The idea for a book about painting the countryside emerged and the result was Annâs first Learn to Paint book: Learn to Paint the Countryside. Since then she has written five books including Flower Painting Through the Seasons and has made a video with the same title to demonstrate her painting ideas and unorthodox approach to watercolour.
Annâs career as a painter has blossomed and she has exhibited widely in many solo exhibitions, with buyers from all over the world collecting her work. She is a regular contributor to Leisure Painter magazine and also enjoys teaching, sharing her techniques and passion for painting country flowers with the wide range of students who visit the workshops that she and her husband run. Much of Annâs time is spent walking through the countryside and visiting local gardens or country markets to find new subjects and sources of inspiration to share with her pupils. The aim of her workshops is not only to teach painting techniques but also to open her studentsâ eyes to painting possibilities and help them to look at simple country subjects with a painterly eye. Learn to Paint Country Flowers in Watercolour continues this theme.
Delphiniums and Poppy
70 Ã 56 cm (28 Ã 22 in)
I use my sketches and photographs I have taken as reference material, but also work directly from nature. Be prepared to use a little imagination when painting backgrounds, to create the effect of the outdoors.
Flower painting is a magical and evocative subject that is accessible to everyone. The title of this book â Country Flowers in Watercolour â was chosen to include not only the wild flowers of the countryside but also traditional cottage garden flowers. These subjects evoke an air of romance and atmosphere which is an aspect I hope to encourage you to explore.