From Field & Forest: An artist's year in paint and pen

Description

'The beginnings of a bitter-sweet commission: a mistle thrust's egg, heralding a brief but very welcome return to spring... This year has been in such a hurry, at times almost tripping over itself in its keenness to reach autumn, and now she's here.' Highly respected illustrator Anna Koska is best known for her drawings of fish and fruit and is widely celebrated by food journalists and restaurateurs. In this mindful, artistic journal, Anna celebrates the natural world; the changing of the seasons, the blossoming of flowers and the ripening of fruit. Working in watercolour, pen and ink, oils and luscious egg tempera, Anna's illustrations are reproduced in beautiful detail and they are accompanied by her musings and observations of objects, engaging us in the everyday realities of her artistic practice. Anna sources inspiration from the flora and fauna in the fields and forests surrounding her home in East Sussex. Her illustrations root us in nature, allowing us to pause to admire and appreciate the beauty and significance of everyday occurrences - whether she is drawing wasps feasting on apples fallen in the orchard, or trying to capture the cerulean blue of a winter sky. In this book, image and narrative text are wedded to create a beautiful journey through the seasons, taking time to appreciate our surroundings. 'It started with my favourite fish, a red mullet, all bronze, copper, gills and scales. Then mackerel, coloured like a Scandi sky. Soon enough, I was seduced by a sketch of figs and Anna's alluring tones.' Allan Jenkins, Observer Food Magazine.

Anna Koska is a freelance illustrator specialising in fruit, vegetables and the natural world. As well as book illustration, Anna regularly receives commissions from chefs, authors and restauranteurs for food and botanical art. She lives in East Sussex with her husband and three children. Along with her illustrating business, she grows an overly ambitious quantity of veg, and cares for three hives and chickens. She forest-runs, cycle and is fervent in her efforts to supply the family with homemade everything. @gremkoska has 7.5k followers on Instagram.

'Writing about food you sometimes describe the skin of an apple or the colour of the flesh of a dark plum. This book helps you see' -- Diana Henry 'Koska's vivid accounts, coupled with her illustrations, create an evocative tale that almost serenades you in melodious bird song, or the gentle hum of bees.' -- Town & Country Magazine 'Every page is touching in one way or another...Anna has a way of taking things that may go unseen, quietly passing us by, and bringing them to our attention in the most natural way.' -- Anja Dunk '... her warm and personal observations of the life of the land around her home in Sussex, but we are sucked in and they become ours too...' -- Rachel Roddy