Creativity Through Nature

A passionate and purposeful book on finding real creativity through nature.

An essential book for our times and all artists at any level. In her most passionate and personal book to date, acclaimed watercolour artist Ann Blockley takes both budding and more experienced artists through a series of ideas for working with nature—in its widest sense—to nurture our creativity, inspire us, make us more sustainable artists, and replenish energy and flow when our artistic streams run dry.

In Creativity Through Nature, sections like "Go Outside and Play" urge artists to recapture a fun, no-pressure way of engaging with the outdoors and use that feeling in their creative process. In "Connecting Materials to Place," Blockley demonstrates how she creates her own paint from a local pond. "The Slow Movement" reveals her year of working on a specific local hedgerow, painting a series of interpretations reflecting its ever-changing details. She created regular creative rituals, using her weekly playing card as a starting point for a new painting to reflect the season each week. She reuses old paintings, tissue, and paper—wabi-sabi style—to create new textures and even new artworks.

Including work from other artists as well as her own, Blockley showcases ideas and projects from textile and mixed-media artists. From allotment inspiration to reusing old paintings, and from nature prints to the alchemy of found materials, Creativity Through Nature is a journey to discover new creativity through our connection with the natural world.