Loose and Lively Animals in Watercolour, Inks & Mixed Media

Leisure Painter – Feb 2024 issue 646

Artist and tutor, Jo Allsopp is passionate about painting wildlife. In her loose and contemporary style, she shows beginners how to tackle the often difficult job of capturing animals in paint using innovative and dynamic techniques. A section on exploring inspiration and motivation is followed by short, practical exercises to help you loosen up. Close-ups of Jo’s painting techniques, with a specific emphasis on drawing, will encourage you to have a go yourself. There are three pure watercolour projects and nine projects incorporating mixed media — each of them provides well illustrated step-by-step examples to help you develop your own style.

Midwest Book Review – January 2024

Synopsis: Animals are a perennial favorite amongst artists, but many struggle with capturing their form and character in a way that reflects the true spirit of the animal. Jo’s genuine passion for wildlife is reflected in her art, and her skill at painting animals in a loose, lively and dynamic style is one that many wish to emulate.
 
Including a broad range of animals from around the world: red squirrels, to peacocks, lions and housecats; water voles and red squirrels, to Atlantic puffins — “Loose and Lively Animals in Watercolour, Inks & Mixed Media” by Jo Allsoop will appeal to both hobby artists and more advanced artists who wish to loosen up their style and take a more experimental approach to their watercolor painting. Jo’s main medium is watercolor, but to this she adds ink plus other media, including: Alcohol; Water-soluble and permanent pens; Gold, silver and bronze leaf; Daler-Rowney acrylic inks.
 
Her technique is very wet into wet, with lots of blooms, vivid colors, and striking contrasts and texture achieved by the addition of wax resist, salt, spatter and scratching out. Jo’s animal paintings are stunning, and “Loose and Lively Animals in Watercolour, Inks & Mixed Media” will both inspire and instruct artists on how to recreate Jo’s style and her stunning animal paintings in a loose, fresh style.
 
Critique: Thoroughly ‘user friendly’ in style, organization and presentation, “Loose and Lively Animals in Watercolour, Inks & Mixed Media” is an ideal DIY ‘how-to’ instructional guide that will prove to be an immediately and enduringly valued addition to personal, professional, community, art school, and college/university library Watercolor and Mixed Media Plant/Animal art instruction collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for art students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that “Loose and Lively Animals in Watercolour, Inks & Mixed Media” is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $24.65).