Animals are a perennial favourite amongst artists, but many struggle with capturing their form and character in a way that reflects the true spirit of the animal. In this bright, breezy and accessible book, Jo Allsopp’s genuine passion for wildlife is clear. That love is reflected in her art, and her loose, lively and dynamic style is one that many wish to emulate.

Including a broad range of animals from around the world – everything from red squirrels to peacocks, lions and housecats – this book will inspire and instruct beginner artists, appeal to animal-loving hobby artists, and provide new ideas for more advanced artists who wish to loosen up their style and take a more experimental approach to their watercolour painting. It includes:

• A section exploring inspiration and motivation
• Short practical exercises to help you loosen up and try things out
• A close look at Jo's way of painting, which demystifies the process and includes drawing techniques
• 3 pure watercolour projects and 9 incorporating mixed media
• Fully illustrated projects that are explained step-by-step, showing you how to personalise your pictures.

Jo's technique is very wet into wet, with lots of blooms, vivid colours, and striking contrasts and texture achieved by the addition of wax resist, salt, spatter and scratching out.

Jo uses an exciting range of art media and techniques in her work. The main medium is watercolour, but to this she adds ink, water-soluble and permanent pens; bleach; isopropyl alcohol; bronzing powders; metallic leaf and acrylic inks. All are explored and explained to show the effects that can be achieved and when and how to use them.