Welcome Back
In today’s post I will be reviewing;
Product Details
- Manufacturer/Brand; Teaching Art; SAA
- Product Name: Botanical Art Techniques; Painting & Drawing Flowers & Plants
- Item number: TA BKBATD
- RRP at time of writing: £18.37
Reason For Buying
I’ve always wanted to paint in a realistic style, not necessarily to the extreme accuracy of serious botanical painting, b ut well enough that you could see what flower etc I was representing. I saw a clip of this on The Painting and Drawing Channel (also on You Tube) and really loved it.
Pros/Cons
Pros:
- Bente Starke King is encouraging and inspirational in her art work and presentation style
- DVD covers watercolours, working with coloured pencils,
- Ink and wash
- Drawing techniques
- The run time on the DVD is 73 minutes
Cons:
This is mearly a niggle. Since the DVD was created in 2004 it is in 4:3 aspect ratio, which looked a bit odd on a larger wide-screen TV. It is simple to get round this, change your TV screen setting to 4:3 and the shapes of everything come out much better.
Build Quality
Excellent. Good lighting, sound and no distracting music or backgrounds. Well presented and quality content.
Value for Money
Excellent. There are lots of techniques covered in the DVD making it good value for money.
Would I buy it Again?
Yes. I highly recommend it o anyone wanting to start drawing and painting flowers and those wanting to increase/improve their skills with pencils, inks and watercolours.
Summing up
Bente is simply wonderful, full of enthusiasm for her subject which is very contagious. When she says you can do it, you believe you can and that is half the battle when learning something new. I painted a leaf using her methods after watching this DVD and it was the best I’ve ever painted.
If you want to paint realistic style with watercolours this is an excellent place to start.
Links
SAA. The Society for All Artists. This is where you can buy the DVD and your art materials too. Become a member for excellent savings on products and postage costs.
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie 🙂
Shall we soon see some of your work at the RHS Billie? So happy for you that you discovered this artist and she gives you plenty of inspiration. My DH’s ex BIL..who is a brilliant all round artist/crafter said that most painting is technique with a dash of the artist’s soul and talent so you are well along that road Billie 🙂
You certainly have the talent and are now learning some techniques.
Hugs
Lynn xx
Hi Lynn
Coo I’ve got a long way to go to get to that stage!!! Not sure I want to get too OCD about the perfect detail, I’ll be happy if what I draw/paint is recognisable as the plant it was intending to be.
The Billsy Showell books & DVD from Christmas as awesome too, expect reviews real soon.
Thanks for saying such lovely things {kiss}. I’ve been putting heart and soul into art for years, but its great that there is more tuition available online and on DVDs these days. I’m not brave enough for classes and not got the skills or funds for collage courses. Online classes are superb!!!
hugs
Billie xx
Thanks, I have been getting back into art and looking to buy some dvds – this one sounds great.
Hi Aileen
Do check out the SAA they have a wide range of books and DVDs on all kinds of art. Hope you find some thing that inspires you.
Best wishes
Billie