As an avid crafter, I am always on the lookout for new books to add to my crafting collection. This one is a keeper for sure. The author teaches the reader to paint many different kinds of flowers, foods, and animals using watercolor paints. The book begins with some color theory then shows wet on wet and wet on dry techniques. This book was fun and could easily be used with children, for fun or for part of a homeschool art curriculum. Highly recommend this one.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

What a beautiful step by step guide this book is! It's well presented, easy to follow and has over 100 watercolour projects to try that are simple but beautiful and start easy to slightly more complicated.
This book is a great guide and I'm going to look at buying a paperback copy to keep and use as soon as I can afford to do so.

I received a complimentary review copy of #WatercolorTheEasyWay from #NetGalley

This is a great reference and tutorial book! It starts off with an overview of supplies, color mixing and usage, general painting techniques, and techniques specific to plants and flowers. The table of contents is illustrated and shows previews of each completed painting. The tutorials all include color swatches, step-by-step written instructions, and at least 3-4 pictures of the painting process as well as the final result. This is a great book for total beginners to painting, those with experience in other mediums who want to try watercolor, or even experts who want some easy but nice-looking tutorials to unwind with.

Breakdown of tools, techniques and color theory all included to help even a novice easily follow along. Traceables included for each project so that one who is not comfortable sketching has the added tool. And a variety of different projects that use all the techniques shown, really allowing for the budding watercolor artist to learn and grow in their skills.

I enjoyed this guide to learning to watercolor, the step-by-step method. This will be a useful reference book.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book absolutely amazing! It's perfect for people who want to start watercoloring. It will teach you about the different techniques like brush strokes. There are also many drawings that you can color in using watercolors. It's very fun! I would definitely recommend it.

<b>★★★★☆ | Easy art projects for watercolour beginners</b>

<b><blockquote>🎨 basics of watercolours
🎨 step-by-step guides
🎨 wide variety of projects
🎨 easy to follow</blockquote></b>

<b>I think this is my 3rd book about watercolours and each of them starts with the basics</b> (wet-on-wet technique, wet-on-dry, etc…) <b>so initially, I meant to only skim this part but I was nicely surprised that I still got to learn something new.</b>

I had a lot of fun practising those; however, I treated the paintings more as doodles and not separate pieces of art.

I didn’t even use proper watercolour paper and just painted them in my art theory journal (yes, what a crime!) so, of course, not everything turned out perfectly.

<b>I would say it’s more for beginners but more advanced students can use it to unwind so if you’re stuck between bigger projects and just want to have some fun like me it’s a great book!</b>

Love this book!! I'm getting back into watercolour painting and also work with children on art workshops and watercolour is a great medium because it is reasonably clean, and great for experimenting as it can be unpredictable based on depth of colour, wateryness, spread of colour, control, so in my opinion it's lovely for kids and adults to explore art without being too precious or 'perfectionist' as my theory is you can't be wrong in art.
Mistakes are just surprises, is what I say.
Having said that, the author gives us advice on how to create different effects so if you want to avoid those surprises, you can!
The designs shown in the book can be recreated or you can take inspiration and choose subjects of your own. Happy painting!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NeetGalley and Better Day Books for approving my request to read and review this book.
Watercolor the Easy Way is a wonderful guide to watercolors. I'm fairly new to painting and found this book to be helpful for both knowledge and skill. Before the author jumps into the meat of the book, she has a list of supplies that are needed. I think that is a perfect way to start craft/hobby/instructional books.
The pictures available to learn from are beautiful and a great mix for varied skill levels. I also found the author’s instruction easy to follow. I will definitely keep this book close as I continue to learn about watercolors and techniques.

I jumped at the chance to preview an ARC of Watercolor The Easy Way by Sara Berrenson. I am a subscriber to a monthly watercolor kit over the last year and was excited to see another artists' style and instruction. What I found was a great guide to several designs complete with instruction for a reader to create themselves. The book starts with suggested materials to complete the projects and then specific colors and techniques are discussed for a finished piece.
My excitement quickly faded though as I realized the designs were almost identical to many of the previous projects I have had in my monthly subscription through another artist. Even the tutorials themselves are put together in a way that resembles the tutorials I own. These designs are simple enough for a beginner and useful to those who are more experienced as well. My average rating is a direct result of what I found to be a lack in originality based on the projects in the book. Many thanks to Better Day Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great place to start for beginners! I could easily see this working as a craft series program for adults or teens at my library. They definitely take me longer than 30 minutes, but I am a complete newb. I will definitely be adding this to my personal collection.
I really love that it includes a blank sketch if each image so that if the actual act of drawing the image is where you struggle you would be able to copy/trace it. Clear directions that still allow for experimentation that are beautifully organized and photographed. The wide variety of subjects (mermaids, lemons, telephone, etc) ensures that there is something for everyone.

I thought after reading this; I would at least beg the basics of water coloring. However, I need more than just a book to help me. It can be helpful to others, but it wasn't beneficial to me.

Well, I'm not Henri Matisse but I'm certainly more talented than I once believed. This book was so much fun, very insightful, and can teach anyone to comprehend the basics of watercolours. Sara Berrenson covers a lot of ground in this lovely book. After reading a few instructional pages I was happily dipping my brush into water, blending colors, and painting little green brush strokes all over the place. Who knew painting leaves could add hours of entertainment to my life! Ok. It wasn't hours, but I did want to paint all 50 tutorials in a day. It was possible to paint one lesson in thirty minutes or less. Berrenson gives step by step instructions, with patterns any amateur can trace onto their pad. Sara never leaves one hanging. She offers tips/recommendations on proper brushes, light strokes, color swatches, and basic blending. Every tutorial shows the artist's completed watercolor. Motifs cover flowers, leaves, fruit, and more.

I used to paint with acrylics in my younger days. Loved it! Not sure why I put my brushes/paints away. I need a hobby other than reading. Painting agrees with me (as long as it isn't on kitchen cabinets). There's something very liberating about it. It kinda makes my heart happy. I need a happy, healthy soul. This book is a great starting point. Watercolour 101. Get inspired. I sure was.

Sara Berrenson is a painter and illustrator who's collaborated with West Elm, Pottery Barn, Trader Joe's, and Mattel. Book can be preordered at Amazon. Release date: January 14, 2020



*ARC courtesy of Better Day Books and NetGalley.

Watercolor the easy Way by Sara Berrenson is an absolutely wonderful and creative book! If you have an inspiration to dabble and/or learn to use watercolor paints I would highly recommend this book. The instructions are wonderful and easy to understand. The illustrations are beautiful and clear. The supply list is very simple and does not encourage the purchase of extensive materials.
This book makes me want to go get started on my watercolor adventure! The entire book is encouraging, positive, and allows the beginner to feel confident enough to try this technique. My only suggestion as a beginner to watercolor is that when giving instructions for a particular project (which there are 50+) the author doesn't suggest what size and type of brush to use. Everything else is clearly laid out. I would highly recommend this book. Well Done!
I would like to thank the author, Better Day Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Books that teach painting are very useful, especially for people like me who do not always have the patience to listen to teachers on YouTube whose painting style is not quite what I am looking for and who chit chat too long about the weather and their dog's nightmares. This book is close to perfect in demonstrating brush strokes, techniques for color and strokes for plant leaves, flowers, I loved having it on my Kindle because the colors look beautiful with the backlit screen. The author provides loads of little lessons in showing how to effectively paint a spray of flowers or pineapple. The ease with which the student can flip through the lessons and find the one that is best suited to desires and temperament is not to be undervalued. I have wasted hours of my life listening to painting teachers only to ultimately find that nothing that was said truly benefited me. This book provides stages of a painting and ideas, brush strokes, techniques for achieving different illustrations and a palette of the necessary colors for pictures of flamingos and turtles. I loved reading about the salt technique. I adore this book and I thank #NetGalley, #BetterDayBooks and #Sara Berrenson for making it available! This will help me a lot.

This book is difficult to rate as it is very much a beginner's book but does not include pertinent information that a beginner would use. I am not a beginner to watercolor so I actually enjoyed the very simple approach and included tutorials, sometimes simple is what you need to get your practice in. However, there is very little information that would help a beginner do the individual tutorials and I can imagine the brief attempt at explaining techniques would confuse newbies a great deal. I do recommend the book for the simple and fun tutorial ideas, but I highly recommend using Youtube or another watercolor book to help you out if you are newer to the art.

This is not a book to "read", although there are great instructions. It is a set of tutorials that look like I will have a blast going through. The format is easy to follow and the tutorial projects are very attractive and useful. The intro chapters are followed by 50 step by step tutorials for various motifs (mostly botanical/natural - all of them are simple and lovely).

This is a very good basic book for those with no experience. Nice layout and explanations of a few techniques. Includes lots of practice examples like flowers, birds, donuts, plants, more. Good stuff.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

As a painter in oils and acrylic , I have always envied the beautiful soft and watery effect of watercolor, but as I paint with rather a textured hand, I found the light touch difficult to achieve.
This book starts at the basics - no running before you can walk - and it is good basic because painting watercolor is very different. Whether it is the grasping of the wet /dry paper, the tinting of colours and the fact that there is no tube of white lessons one slowly comes to understand this concept of painting.
It is pretty much a beginners book, but it certainly gives confidence in achieving more.

I am a watercolor artist and I loved this book! There is so many fun tutorials to practice. This covers the basics of materials and color theory and starts with some simple, easy-to-follow techniques that a complete beginner would be able to follow. Highly recommended!