There aren't many books on painting birds. The reason, of course, isn't hard to find: not many people want (or think they want) to paint them. They do, however, provide a wide variety of colourful subjects and there's no reason in reality for them to be any less popular than flowers. And you can't move for books on flowers. Andrew Forkner adopts the sensible strategy of putting all the basic techniques (working in acrylics) together at the beginning of the book. These include information on colours, composition, eyes, beaks and, most importantly, feathers. These are the building blocks you'll use later when it comes to particular species. The approach avoids continuous repetition, but it does mean a degree of jumping about if you haven't fully grasped the technical elements - which, frankly, you should have. Time spent at this stage is like learning musical scales, unexciting perhaps, but invaluable. The whole thing is neatly executed and is about as good, within its own constraints, as it could be. The A-Z format has worked before, but that was for flowers, and it's just that I'm not sure this is the place for it. Flowers are popular and well-known. Bird are, too, but I doubt there are enough people who both admire them and want to paint them for something like this to work. It's not, when all's said and done, a book for the complete beginner and I do honestly think that's what's needed. On the other hand, if you're passionate about painting birds but need practice and instruction, this is absolutely the book for you.To read the rest of this review see http://artbookreview.wordpress.com/ - Art Book Review