I found this an excellent guide for me, a beginner with both gouache and botanical illustration, but of intermediate experience with traditional watercolor (painting).
More and more people are choosing gouache for their botanical paintings, and Simon Williams, a leading botanical painter, provides expert advice on everything from brush angles to color mixing to painting in situ. Each step-by-step demonstration explores a different technique, and the stunning projects include tulips, iris, roses, and a mixed-fruit study.
The author is definitely talented enough to write a book on the subject; the book contains many, many of his works and they are exquisite. I learned a lot of things, such as the excellent reference for Fabriano Pittura paper and the basics to using gouache: I've been using it far to thick. I learned use more water, more layers and let each layer completely dry before adding more paint.
I think the only negative to this book was that the author tried to demonstrate too wide a variety of plants. I'd have preferred less examples and more specific instructions and detail on the painting of certain plants. Nonetheless, it's by far the best guide on botanical painting using gouache that I've found to date.
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