Jane Betteridge is an artist and qualified adult education tutor whose interest in painting stems from childhood, and whose inspiration is drawn from the landscape; from countryside to seaside. Known for her experimental, innovative approach to watercolours, Jane’s venturesome, investigative ways aim to nudge the use of the medium a little further, and allows her readers and students to take advantage of the medium to produce free, lively works of art.Jane has demonstrated at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; and was Artist in Residence at the BBC's Gardeners' World Live event. She has written for several art magazines and streams live workshops for the SAA. Jane also holds regular workshops in her studios in St Ives in Cornwall and Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, where she lives.

You might think, therefore, that it’s not really possible to write an instructional guide, but that hasn’t stopped quite a few authors from trying and Jane is among the best. While there are plenty of recognisable forms here, she has also moved towards almost pure abstraction where the essence of the subject has been put down, rather than its straightforward appearance. Jane in fact makes this point in her introduction, so we’re definitely on the same page.[...] I can’t tell you a lot more than that this is what the book is. It’s nicely presented and reproduced and, if you’re a fan of Jane’s work or you want an intriguing look at abstraction, I think you’ll find your way here.

• Introduction 6Getting started 8First steps into abstraction 18Texture 44Colour 51Swirling Tide at Porthmeor 58Deeper into abstraction 72Magical honesty 92Shape and line 104Flowers and fruit 116Afterword 126Index 128