From Field & Forest
‘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 by the coast in Devon with her husband and three children, having spent many years in East Sussex. Along with her illustrating business, she grows an overly ambitious quantity of veg, and cares for three hives and chickens. She forest-runs, cycles and is fervent in her efforts to supply the family with homemade everything. She is on Instagram as @gremkoska.