I have been told by my publisher that I can start talking about my new book! But not too much- publication date is still four and half months away but the time will race past and I am now on a count down to March 1st 2018! It feels like I have been working on this for ever. It is a year since a photographer visited my studio and took shots of my paintings as I developed them . I had decided that it was time for me to do a more ‘hands on’ book. I then had to sort through about a thousand photographs choosing the ones that best illustrated the points that I was making and whittle them down to a usable number. Once these were allocated I had lots more painting to get done and of course all the writing to explain everything, making sure it is informative but still reads in an entertaining way and provides inspiration.
One of the aspects I enjoy about developing a book is the layout and design process. I always get heavily involved in this . I have a feeling I may have a bit of a reputation for being rather picky and difficult about the tiniest detail but it’s only because I am passionate about getting it ‘right’. It’s a bit like composing a painting- you know instinctively when something hangs together well. So hours, days and weeks were spent over fonts, word counts and juxtapositions of images. The next stage was the exciting bit , when a large packet of colour proofs came through for my comments and corrections. It never stops being a thrill to see your pictures in print. Viewing the pages on a computer screen just isn’t the same. The next adrenalin packed installment was when I returned the corrected package to the publisher and it got ‘lost’ in the post! Luckily, Royal Mail discovered where they had sent it to by mistake and my baby was returned into the arms of the publishers.
The final piece of the jigsaw was choosing an image for the cover and here it is! It is called Ann Blockley’s Watercolour Workshop, to be published by Batsford on March 1st 2018. I will be posting more information each month about this new book and what you can expect from it. So excited!!
‘Ann Blockley’s Watercolour Workshop’ will be published on March 1st 2018
