Member Reviews
This book is intensely beautiful and informative! I am a fairly good with a pencil and sketchbook, but throw color in there and I go from 37 back to about age 4. It’s not good! What I discovered through this book is that it’s technique I am missing more than anything else! I love the step-by-step tutorials! I am extremely visual. Text confuses me because I never understand what instructions are talking about. Visual instructions with pictures, though, are what I need at least, if not video. This book provided enough photos for me to understand everything she was teaching and it did it beautifully!
Wow how beautiful this book is! First of all, I didn’t know that you can learn so much about colors. I love the exercises to practice all of the colors to work together. Great painting guide for beginners which explains all the details and techniques that I can use not only to paint flowers. After careful reading and practicing all the directions I really created beautiful flowers. I can’t wait to send my first cards :)
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
DIY Watercolor Flowers is a tutorial guide to watercolor floral painting for beginners or artists who want to increase their facility with the medium.
Due out 30th April 2019 from SewandSo, it's 160 pages and available in paperback format. Author Marie Boudon is a self taught artist/educator with an engineering background.
The cover art is indicative of the whimsical stylized flowers and plants included in the book. The use of color and the ways the author puts together the tutorial compositions are very appealing. This guide presupposes no prior expertise; even beginners will find enough instruction in the introductory chapter sections (~25% of the page content) to source materials and gain enough familiarity with the tools to progress through the remainder.
The main tutorials are grouped into a directory of plants (roses, peonies, dahlias, foliage, etc) and then 7 specific projects which include referenced pages to the plants used in the project along with palette and colorway instruction. The page references are a brilliant little feature that really save time when flipping back and forth to find step by step instructions.
The projects are appealing, charming, and simple. They will make lovely cards and diary/journal enhancements.
Beautifully presented and executed.
Five stars; I'll definitely be dragging my watercolors out this weekend.
Possibly worth noting: The book was published in French in 2018 as Fleurs à l’aquarelle : Une initiation. I did not see any translation credits in my eARC, but the translation work is seamlessly expert and it doesn't read as though it's been translated.
This book is very detailed and suitable for beginners; Boudon starts from the very basics of color theory, paints, and brushes before building her readers up to the art of watercolor.
I really liked the “Getting know your colours” part. The different sort of combinations were so interesting and gave me so much inspiration to what sort of palettes I could create. It made me understand color theory on a different level.
The section on painting lessons was very well done. Where some books often gloss over the techniques, DIY Watercolor Flowers goes in depth to the step by step process on how to create beautiful flowers, all while including small tips and tricks.
The whole layout of the book was just beautiful. With the photographs and watercolor images, the whole book maintained a soft light palette than went well with the text. It was just a joy to read and brush through.
The book provides so many easy lesson on how to draw flowers, which would go great on any journalling medium or art piece.
A lovely book for anyone wanting to learn or build on painting skills and techniques.
An in depth, complete step by step guide to painting watercolour flowers.
Some lovely ideas for things to do with the skill learnt too
Very useful guide.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Arc of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I found this book utterly inspiring. It is beautifully set out, with clear and colourful tutorials. Everything about it is completely yummy and makes me want to try out all the exercises, and of course rush out and buy a few new paint colours! Wonderful clear instructions for beginner watercolourists, and inspiring lessons to encourage trying a lovely loose style for more advanced painters. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy. The opinions expressed are my own.
Beautiful drawings and illustrations. Easy to read and follow. Thoroughly enjoyed browsing this and I'm excited to try some of the techniques.
I can paint! Who would've guessed??
This was a great book for someone who knows that there is a painter deep inside of themselves but has no idea where to start.
The illustrations were gorgeous and the tutorials were very useful for beginners without being condescending in any way. I highly recommend!
This is my favorite watercolor book of the year. The watercolors remind me of Yao Cheng’s work. I hope the artist makes more books. Tutorials are beautiful and easy to follow.
It took me some time to read this. I had to sit with my paint brushes so I could follow through. Great instructions, easy to follow and pictures to guide you through... Not to blame the book but my flowers never come out that nice. Might be the skills.
I like reading about step by step instructions and that's what the book had. I wish they had a bigger variety of flowers and more complicated flowers also. Overall a great book for someone who is just starting to do some watercoloring.
Thank you Netgalley and SewandSo for the ARC. Can't wait to see what beautiful flowers my nieces can paint.
I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. DIY Watercolor Flowers is a beautifully illustrated book by Marie Boudon. She does a good job of presenting " how to" advise even a beginning or want to be artist can understand. Much info is given in regard to brushes, paints, quality of paper, etc. I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to trying some of the authors techniques.
This book did not translate well with the downloaded Kindle format, but the pictures seemed well photographed and I’m sure it looks very pretty in the hardcover version.
I love the concept of this book but the formatting of the review copy file was so wonky that it was impossible to review accurately.
I think the ultimate test of a book's usability and enjoyment is whether you come back to it--particularly in the case of educational books. And for DIY Watercolor Flowers, I've found myself returning to it again and again. Not all of the techniques nor supplies were new to me, but the way in which they are presented was fresh as well as an easy read. I really enjoyed the short section on color mixing and wished that was longer! Where this book really shines is in the florals and painting tutorials. Very easy to follow and just lovely examples for each. Excellent watercolor book for beginners, but helpful for watercolorists of any skill level that maybe needs a fresh look at florals (or whom is unfamiliar with painting florals).
In here there is different exercises. It shows different examples and photographs used. It tells you about flowers, foliage, creating your own palette, texture. A number of projects shown with what was shown earlier.
This is a beautiful book and I am so excited to be experimenting with paint. I am a true novice so if I can do this, anyone can! A true gem of a book. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.
This is a wonderful how-to on creating watercolor flowers. It starts with the basics of blending colors and getting the effects you want. The it grows into the techniques of actually creating them. While mine were never as good as the ones in the book, they were so much more wonderful than anything I ever expected of myself. I was also using very cheap watercolor so I was surprised I was still able to create something similar to the illustrations in the book.
The illustrations are the best part of this book because they do really show you every step. They are close-up and make it so easy to learn.
I suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn to create watercolor flowers. It's beginner friendly.
I received this book free from netgalley in exchange for this honest review.
Who doesn’t remember painting with watercolors when they were in elementary school? I remember that white plastic box with the primary colors smile. But I am no artist and that was years ago…and yet this book made me go to the local craft store and buy some paper, paints and brushes so I could explore them all over again as an adult!
I love the simple explanation of techniques and the easy to follow instructions to painting a few of your own flowers. Will I be showing my work any time soon? Not likely, but I will be enjoying the colors, creativity and reconnecting with happier and simpler times.
A pleasure to read and even more fun when you get your hands on the paints and begin painting. What a great book that took me from reading to doing and memories along for the ride!
DIY Watercolor Flowers by Marie Boudon is an instructional book. There are color photographs and detailed instructions about everything from choosing the correct supplies to paint projects. The photos show step by step how to paint each type of flower..
There is plenty of material in here for a new painter to learn how to paint flowers. I plan to use the instructions to paint flowers on wedding cakes.
I received a digital advanced readers copy of this delightful book from Netgalley.
This beautifully designed book is sure to make any DIY-er melt with its easy to follow instructions on how to design and decorate using easy-to-reach watercolor techniques.
Instructions are clear and projects are desirable and fun. I will definitely be recommending this book at my library!