• An exciting approach to botanical illustration featuring exotic and extraordinary plant specimens. 
• Striking plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables provide new challenges in colour, texture and form.
• Stunning finished paintings accompany simple instructions and step-by-step projects for a beautiful book that both guides and inspires.

Strange and unusual specimens have never been more accessible – as more and more exotic fruit and vegetables appear regularly in our shopping baskets and our florists fill with flowers from every corner of the globe, this practical and beautiful guide to capturing strange and striking plants on paper has never been more timely. There is something for beginners and more experienced botanical illustrators alike, whether you wish to paint  more familiar bananas, pineapples and other exotic fruits that are now widely available, or more complex orchids and even carnivorous plants.

Acclaimed artists Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan (authors of the bestselling Contemporary Botanical Illustration and Botanical Illustration Course) run the popular botanical painting course at the Eden Project and are thus uniquely placed for this exciting take on the genre.

The unusual colours and complex textures of exotic plants present a new challenge to the botanical artist, but this book guides you through each stage of the painting process with plenty of exercises and step-by-step projects. Fantastically illustrated with worksheets, colour swatches, sketches and stunning finished paintings this practical and inspirational guide is a must-have for botanical artists of all levels.

• Create perfect, historically accurate Victorian menswear, from morning coats to shirts and trousers
• Contains detailed patterns and practical instructions adapted from original Victorian pattern-cutters’ books
• Covers the whole of the Victorian era, with outstanding designs from every decade

A valuable sourcebook for costume designers, dressmakers and those involved in historical re-enactments, this book contains all you need to create authentic menswear from the Victorian period. Historically accurate patterns enable you to make a wide range of garments, including morning coats, waistcoats, frock coats, trousers, shirts and hunting clothes, and full instructions are given for tailoring and construction. The book is illustrated with evocative contemporary fashion plates showing the essential wardrobe of a Victorian gentleman, which demonstrate the subtle changes in style that occurred across the decades.

Batsford’s Walking Guides is an exciting new gift series of walking books, aimed at the weekend, family walker. These small-format, portable, hardback books have an attractive retro feel, with nostalgic line drawings and hand-drawn maps.

Each of the 20 walks have been carefully selected to appeal to family walkers, most are circular and none are too strenuous. Each walk contains the following:

• Clear, easy-to-follow route directions
• Detailed hand-drawn maps
• Refreshments and pubs
• Parking information
• OS map references

In addition, each walk contains information on wildlife, or other special attractions to watch out for while walking. The ideal gift for anyone wanting to explore the countryside within easy reach of London.

Shirley Trevena is a well-known and successful watercolourist, with a huge international fan base. Throughout her career she has pushed the boundaries of watercolour and is regarded as one of Britain’s most innovative artists in that medium.

Shirley’s watercolours are visually inspiring, vibrant in colour and strong in composition This, her third book, shows how she achieves her stunning results by pushing the medium to its limits. Shirley takes the reader through 10 paintings in great detail and shares all her professional tips and painting secrets. In addition, each painting has large close-up details so the reader can really see all the brushstrokes.

Shirley breaks the conventional rules of watercolour in many different ways: through her compositions, strange perspectives, fascinating textures and, above all, the strength and vibrancy of her colour combinations.

In Breaking the Rules of Watercolour, Shirley explains all her painting decisions and demonstrates her techniques at every stage. In this way, she encourages all watercolourists, whatever their level, to experiment with the medium and produce exciting and challenging work of their own.

• Exciting, colourful and vibrant watercolours from well- known artist Jenny Wheatley
• Step-by-step demonstrations encourage creativity and experimentation with your watercolours
• Jenny Wheatley shares her unique studio secrets and working methods

Jenny Wheatley is renowned for her exciting, colourful and highly original paintings. In Adventurous Watercolours, her first book, Jenny discusses in detail the various aspects that contribute to her distinctive style of painting in watercolour.

Jenny talks about how she gets her initial inspiration, the impact and importance of colour in her work, the different working processes she uses on location in her studio, right through to her design considerations.

The stunning illustrations feature paintings in watercolour and mixed media, covering a wide range of subjects, including buildings, still life and landscapes. In addition, there are several step-by-step demonstrations explaining the key stages of Jenny’s working process.

Adventurous Watercolours will encourage readers to use their watercolours more creatively and to experiment with different techniques to achieve exciting and dramatic effects.

• Introducing the hottest technique for textile artists today: collagraphy, or printing from collage
• Packed with hints, tips and exercises exploring how to harness this exciting technique in your own work
• Illustrated with stunning examples of collagraphy by some of the world’s finest textile artists

Learn the secrets of one of textile art’s most popular techniques: collagraphy. This comprehensive guide from one of Europe’s best-known textile artists and teachers contains everything you need to know about the exciting effects you can achieve using the almost endless permutations of collage, stitch and print, and how you can incorporate them into your own stitched-textile work. Includes invaluable information on making a collagraphy plate using embroidery, choosing suitable surfaces for print, combining paper and fabric, embroidering onto prints, and how to work in series.

Illustrated throughout with the best examples of contemporary collagraphy in textile art, this book is a fascinating introduction to a technique that could become your latest textile-art passion.

London is one of the most vibrant and versatile film locations in the world and has provided some of the most stunning settings in film history. This comprehensive guide spans decades of cinema in London, from Brief Encounter (1945) to Sherlock Holmes (2009)

A delight for both film buffs and London enthusiasts, this practical guide is organized area-by-area – from the heart of the city to the suburbs – so the reader can explore locations close to where they live, work and play. Films range from classic and cult films such as Alfie, A Clockwork Orange and Withnail and I to more recent blockbusters such as Harry Potter and Bridget Jones, and includes the very latest movies filmed in the metropolis, including The Other Boleyn Girl, Sherlock Holmes and Run, Fatboy, Run.

Incorporating annotated maps of film hotspots around town, it is now easier than ever to walk, tour and relive your favourite movie moments in London.

London has over 15 million visitors a year and Love London is an ideal tourist souvenir. This fabulous collection of more than 200 stunning black and white and colour photographs of London cover photos of London street scenes, the river, cafe life, famous monuments and interesting characters. Each photograph has a fascinating quote about London from the great and the good….and the not so good!
The Evening Standard referred to Barbara Chandler as having ‘the sharpest eye in London’.

Watercolour is celebrated for its ability to produce subtle, variegated washes, but it is possible to use watercolour as boldly and powerfully as in any other medium, and the wonderfully vibrant paintings of Annette Kane demonstrate this pefectly. Her book covers a range of techniques and advice from colour theory and mixing colours to choosing the right technique for the right subject matter to how to experiment and work adventurously. The emphasis is on bold brushwork and strong colour, and she is not afraid to combine or enhance her effects in watercolour with other elements, such as ink, acrylic and gouache. With a number of step-by-step demonstrations in addition to stunning finished paintings, the book gives every painter the confidence to be bold in watercolour. The chapters cover the following:

Essential skills: Understanding Watercolour; The Right Equipment, Confident Brushwork

Vibrant Colour: Exploring Colour Theory; Expressive Colour; Colour and Design; Mixing Colours

Sunlight and Shadows: Interpreting Light; Light and Form; Exciting Shadows

A Personal Response: Subject Matter; Observation; Essential Elements; Keeping an Open Mind

Freedom and Control: Controlled Method; Working Fast and Loose

Ideas and Approaches: Still life; Gardens; Water; Windows and Doorways; Light

Bethan Ash’s rich, colourful quilts are created using improvisational collage techniques. Working instinctively, she simply layers fabric shapes onto a prepared background and fuses them down, then adds stitching later. Each quilt is cut freehand, without the use of rulers or templates. In this groundbreaking book, she reveals the secrets of how she works, from basic dyeing and fusing techniques to design- and colour-awareness exercises and mixed-media experiments. In clear, easy-to-follow text, she gives the reader invaluable information on method, materials, technique and composition, and shows that improvisational quiltmaking is not merely ‘messing about with fabric’, but instead can form the basis of working freely and is the optimal way of broadening the reader’s artistic talent.

Illustrated with the best examples of fused quilts from around the world, this book is a visual feast of colour and pattern, and allows the reader to discover how the boundaries of traditional quiltmaking can be expanded through the use of imagination, inspiration and fusion.

The latest book from the bestselling author Kim Thittichai focuses on the range of ideas and techniques for layering your textiles. These layers can produce simple to extreme surfaces for stitch. Layering is a major feature of today’s textile art, whether to create relief, colour, texture or dimension.

The author takes you through a number of key materials – papers, synthetic and natural fabric, translucent materials, wires, paints and sprays – that can be incorporated into layered textiles. Various techniques are combined with these materials, from using heat guns, soldering irons and lazer cutting to machine and hand stitch to give the reader endless ideas for their own creative work.

As always, the author has provided exercises for the creative process and the techniques but combined them with the work of the best textile artists around the world today. It provides the ultimate guide to the subject of layered textiles for readers looking to experiment with their own textile art.

Pattern design is booming in the craft, textile, fashion and graphic design worlds. This is a much-needed book on simple and more advanced ways of creating pattern with a source of 2000 colourful combinations that you can use for further creative work.

The simplest pattern is a repeat of a motif. You can make that more interesting by creating a brickwork grid when repeating motifs. Make it different again by rotating the image, or by mirroring it. Taking the reader through various pattern developments thoroughly, it shows how one motif can lead to inexhaustible pattern interpretations. All these techniques are explained and illustrated, making the book an ideal way of learning about pattern design basics as well as finding an inspirational pattern.

This is a visually rich book that has application for any kind of designer, whether working on fabric, the web or the world of graphics.