Painting Calm

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was so informative. I love to paint and I can not wait to try a few of these out. Painting has halway calmed me but painting nature is one of my favorites.
I just reviewed Painting Calm by Inga Buividavice. #PaintingCalm #NetGalley
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I am the adult librarian at our small town library and I have created a Calm and Color program I am always looking for new things to introduce to the people in my class and I believe that this us a perfect fit. I am also a person with no artistic talent but I did for this book informational and helpful with me breaking out of my no talent painting skill. This is very calming for anyone like myself who needs something to just relax there body and mind.

I long to learn to paint but have always been timid of not doing it right or making mistakes. The author of Painting Calm reassures me that she was in the same place when her journey began. This book has given me hope that I could actually accomplish watercolour painting by starting off with nature.
The book includes beginning techniques on how to get acquainted with your brush and the strokes before moving into more in depth projects.
The watercolour illustrations are just beautiful and will be wonderful encouragement as I begin the journey.

Thanks to Leaping Hare Press for the advanced copy.

I am in love with this book!

Whilst I have a creative background, I fell out of love with painting after art school and have rarely picked up a brush since. Lockdown was more a time of reading and reflection than creativity for me, but now I find myself feeling curious about what creativity could look like for me again.

Watercolors are one of the only media I've not used so this has spurred me on to invest in a set, encouraged by the speed in which it dries, and lack of equipment needed!

The illustrations are gorgeous in this book and will look even better on paper, this is so important in an art book, obviously, but it also makes it a pleasure to read. I definitely recommend this for anyone feeling curious about creativity.

Painting Calm by Inga Buividavice is a great way to start watercolor painting. The author's calm, reassuring words are a balm for budding artists and people looking for a meditative practice to reduce stress and be creative. Care is taken to explain watercolor and composition in a manner that makes sense to total beginners without overwhelming them with information. Swatches is encourages and making a set of color swatches with notes is explained. Techniques are shown with wonderful illustrations and easy project with step by step instructions are given. Inga stresses that your painting will not be perfect every time you set brush to paper you are gaining experience. She stresses the doing is the goal and accepting the imperfectness of watercolor is part of the magic in art.
I highly recommend this book for people looking for a relaxing hobby. I purchased paints and a notebook that I plan to use as a travel journal on my Grand Canyon trip later this year.

Luscious and beautiful in its simple approach, Painting Calm by Inga Buividavice is a delight to read and learn from. Embark on a watercolour journey as Inge guides you through the steps to creating your own pieces, unraveling methods that at first seem intimidating, but are easily mastered with her helpful insight. Mixing, brush strokes, colour theory, and composition, are all addressed in an approachable, easy to understand manner.
A perfect guide and addition to any watercolourist's collection, I know I will be getting my own copy once it publishes!
Thank you to Inge, and to Netgalley, for the advance look at such a lovely piece of art!

What an excellent watercolor book. I really appreciated all of the information at the beginning of the book itself. Even if you had never painted before, you'd be able to pick this up and know exactly what you were doing. Finding inspiration, brush shapes/sizes, composition on the page, color theory, painting techniques. This book covers it all. I really appreciate that! I also really enjoyed how all of the lessons were based around nature and simplifying things. Simple shapes, simple color options, clear patterns, etc. Not to make things "easier," but to allow you to enjoy the process even more. It's not about making 1000 paintings, it's about "Painting Calm."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is just so incredibly beautiful and serves both as a great introduction to watercolour and personal exploration of art for therapy.

The page layouts and illustrations were very pleasing to the eye, and I loved the mix of text styles, spacing and delicate, but colourful, watercolour illustrations. A lot of thought has been put into pleasing, calming looking pages which is so important for a book like this, but not all achieve it in such a successful way.

I love all form of art and have dabbled briefly in watercolour, but without acquiring more confident skills. The book starts with beautifully explained and illustrated basics about brushes, paint, colour theory and techniques - in a way that provides you with all you need to start painting and much more. The whole process of creating through this book is focused on art for calm, mindful techniques, enjoying primarily the meditative joy of painting, but also the learning. Whilst there is little focus on just creating final, accomplished pieces. I did find I achieved both.

I’ve read it from the front to cover, but now will go back and work through the many projects I missed, but I won’t rush - I’ll enjoy each and every step. I’ll be purchasing a paper copy as while it does work digitally, I’d prefer this a book I can pull off the book shelf and absorb in real life.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Inga Buividavice for a digital ARC.

Painting Calm is a tutorial and style guide for natural subjects in watercolor media by Inga Buividavice. Due out 13th June 2023 from Quarto on their Leaping Hare Press imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

The author has an inviting, calm, and encouraging style of writing. The brief introduction includes an illustrated list of tools and supplies and some (very) basic techniques for getting paint onto paper, for sketching, for selecting subjects and other useful information for beginning painters. Chapters with specific tutorials are grouped thematically: foliage, flowers, light, and structure & symmetry. Each of the project chapters contain many smaller mini-tutorials which are adaptable to any number of readers' uses. Most of the tutorials cover a couple of pages and are simple enough to give beginning watercolorists confidence by rendering them as illustrated or adapting them to their own needs.

The author has also included a number of collage photos for inspiration and reference, including many many glimpses into her own sketchbooks and portfolios.

This is a very pretty book with a lot of useful information and tips for rendering natural subjects with watercolor.

Four and a half stars. This would be a superlative selection for public or school library, home studio, or gifting.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Absolutely loved this book. Did a few exercises and it helped me understand the shapes and forms especially of the trees. It also helped me to understand the composition of elements from nature. I am sure more comfortable starting to paint on a blank paper more stress free.

This book is beautifully illustrated. The instructions are very clear. Though I think it looks easier then it actually is.
It is a great resource for those who want to use the hobby of watercoloring to improve their mental health.

This is a beautifully done watercolor painting instructional book. I love books like this and notice that most of them tend to lean towards brighter and lighter colors. This stands out because I do think there's a different technique to working with darker more muted colors. The colors add to the calm feeling and the instructions are easy to follow.