This book, rather surprisingly, fills a gap in the literature that has been around for a long time. Yes, there have been plenty of books about painting and drawing trees, but always treating them as a subject in their own right. And there's the problem. How often do you sit down to paint a tree? Unless you're a botanical illustrator, the chances are: never. You do, however, paint them all the time if you're a landscape artist. You can't miss them and they usually come out as near-enough blobs of roughly the right colour. And, let's be honest, they work perfectly well.

So, do you need a book about them at all, given that we've established that you don't actually paint them? I would contend that you do, because sometimes (quite often, actually), they're a major composition element and are likely appear, even if not in the foreground, certainly the mid. You need to get the shape, structure and colours right, and all that will depend on the season. It's not quite as bad as flowers - people tend to be more vague about arboreal varieties than they do flowers, but they'll still recognise a wrong 'un.

And now here comes Matthew Palmer, as he so often does, to the rescue. This simple, but quietly comprehensive guide deals with all the basic shapes and several specific species in 12 straightforward lessons that also cover the necessary seasonal variations. It's a relatively small format and only 96 pages, providing all the information you need without over-elaborating. It is, quite simply, a book about painting trees in the landscape rather than as a subject in themselves, which is exactly what we need. Matthew has the good sense not to include those wider vistas, because you'll be filling them in yourself and it's the matter in hand that we need to concentrate on. It's neatly done, with a light touch, and all the better for that.

That this looks like the start of a new series is even more promising. -- Henry Malt * artbookreview.net *