Watercolor the Easy Way is a tutorial and technique guide by Sara Berrenson. Due out 14th Jan 2020 from Schiffer on their Better Day imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The format is easy to follow and the tutorial projects are very attractive and useful. The introduction and technique tutorials (~20% of the content) cover tools, materials, and techniques such as wet on wet and wet on dry painting. The intro chapters are followed by 50 step by step tutorials for various motifs (mostly botanical/natural - all of them are simple and lovely).

All of the tutorials contain a full size line-drawn template, tools and supplies and a color palette. Step by step tutorial instructions are provided in color as well as written instructions. Special tips, alternative methods, and other info is provided in sidebars throughout the book.

There is no index, however, there is a full color gallery listing of the projects in the table of contents.

Well made, very high quality, this book got my fingers itching to get my supplies out and have a go. This would make a superlative gift for anyone who wants to do watercolor; many (most) of the projects are accessible for anyone. These would make lovely cards, placecards, framed pieces, etc. Lovely. Five stars.

This is a superb book for anyone wanting to learn about watercolouring and where to start!!

Its full of great ideas and helpful tips breaking each step down into easy to follow simple steps. The photography is fantastic as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and Better Day Books for the ARC.

This is an excellent book for those beginning in watercolor painting. It has tips on types of paints, papers, and even drawings for people to use to create the suggested projects. I thought her information was well written and usable for even those of us who have done some dabbling. #WatercolorTheEasyWay #NetGalley

Watercolor the Easy Way by Sara Barrenson is a beautiful and helpful tutorial that shows readers the steps and techniques to create 50 very on-trend watercolor illustrations.
From tropical leaves and cocktails to animals and holiday themes, the art is lovely and the steps are simple, making it a great starting point for those interested in learning watercolor.
Barrenson details everything from the brush and color pallet needed for a project, to the techniques needed for each step in the process in a simplified manner.
While I'm not sure this will teach how to create a painting of anything from scratch, having 50 exciting projects to practice on seems like a great way to get your brush wet!
Many thanks to Better Days Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This is a delightful format for the complete beginner. Love the step-by-step style guide through each simple piece. Simple illustrative style will help build confidence with techniques.

Pros:
- Beautiful graphics
- Colour charts
- Simple instructions
- Easy to understand basics including techniques for layering and blending, strokes, and other assorted details
- Includes 50 assorted tutorials
- Includes brush recommendations

Cons:
- Did not read well on a Kindle device at all
- Reads overly simplistic at times - give me just a little more detail, please
- While lessons/tutorials are simple, a level of artistry is needed. I'm not sure my palm trees wouldn't look like pine trees - this is not a recommendation against the book, but a comment on reality.

Summary:
This is a beautiful non-intimidating introduction to the art of watercolour but does not guarantee success. I will be purchasing a hard copy to add to my craft shelf and with practice, hope to develop some skill and can only hope that my creations will one day look as lovely as Sara's artistry.

Absolutely LOVE this book!!!The tutorials were invaluable. I learned so much more about watercolor painting from Berrenson. She gave me a new way to approach the work and I could see so much better with this perspective. Can't wait to get this for my library and to take what I have learned out into the fresh air in the Spring!!

I've been trying watercolors off and on for a while, just through trial and error. Which is super frustrating! So I was interested to read this book, "Watercolor The Easy Way" by Sara Berrenson. By the time I was finished with the introduction, I understood how to paint one color on top of another without blending the whole thing and how to blend if that's what you're trying to do. Berrenson does a great job of explaining the techniques to someone just starting out with watercolors - she makes it sound downright possible! The rest of the book is filled with how-tos for painting various items, particularly lovely flowers and plants. I love that each instruction includes an outline, for those drawing challenged in the crowd (myself included). If *I* can learn watercolors with this book, I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in this medium!

Great directive on watercoloring! Would be a fun and easy book club activity in the library. Step by step instructions on cute water color illustrations.

I’m no artist but with this book I feel like I could be! The book starts with some easy to follow techniques. Water colours can be tricky so seeing how to mix and layer colours really helped me. The book also teaches you the difference between wet on dry and wet on wet to get those amazing details (something I never knew about water colours). Once you get the hang of the basics you can jump into the tutorials with step by step guides to create a watercolour picture for yourself. I started with the popsicle but looking forward to working my way to the festive car. For anyone who wants to start creating watercolour masterpieces, this is the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Better Day Books for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

What a charming watercolor book. It was colorful and clearly illustrated.
The tutorials were simple yet useful for greeting cards, gift tags, and miniature
paintings.

Each ‘lesson’ was complete with suggestions of colors, paint brush size and type, tips, and a line drawing of the subject matter. It also included simple steps for completing the project.

The first part of the book contained basics relevant to watercolor painting, in general. If someone was a beginning watercolorist or was just thinking of dabbling in this art form, this book would be perfect! This book would be useful in my art library and I think I would refer to it often. It is a great jumping off point for expanding your painting skills.

I absolutely adore this watercolor book and may buy a copy for our family. It's exactly the kind of watercolor tutorial book that I'm always looking for. The projects are simple but gorgeous, and Berrenson gives step-by-step instructions so the reader can be successful duplicating each design. She also doesn't tell you that you need expensive paints or any kind of specialty supplies, just paintbrushes, paints and a few optional things. She goes into good detail about how to do wet on wet, dry on wet, and other style of painting to get great results.

There are 126 paintings to duplicate. They tend towards whimsical and pretty designs -- a donut, flowers in a mason jar, an old fashioned bicycle with flowers in the basket, close ups of fruit, a Christmas tree strapped to the top of a Volkswagon bug... Many would be good for wall art, homemade cards or just fun projects.

We are an art-loving, craft-loving family and I think this book would be perfect for some fun kitchen table art projects with the kids. It's also wonderfully suited for adults of all different skill levels. Highly recommended.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

The author did a great job of teaching the basic techniques for watercolor and is a perfect introduction book for beginners. There are quite a few tutorials and great examples you can follow along with and try out. 5 stars

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is truly the first stepping stone for those who are learning to watercolor. They give simple and easy to follow instructions on how to do this. They also have super easy designs for you to start with that turn out amazing in the end. If you or anyone you know wants to learn how to watercolor, this is the book to help get you started!

I absolutely loved this tutorial book. FYI it didn’t view in Kindle app so I had to resend it to pocketbook. But once I could go through it I am just in love. I really recommend this for beginners. it really breaks it down and simplified the wet and dry techniques. It also has some really great lessons in here that are both fun and beautiful. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. I would most definitely by this as a gift.

I love watercolors and I love making small sketches with watercolors so this book is my happy place. If you've never ever touched watercolors before or if you've dabbled a little but haven't really done much, this is the book for you.

The author starts with a few very simple watercolor tips and tricks, some color theory and then it's all about the specific tutorials. She has a drawing you can copy for each motif and then walks you through how she's coloring it both highlighting the specific colors she uses, and showing which steps she does first and how she layers.

There are a wide range of motifs: a lot of beautiful flowers, some fun animals, and ordinary things like bikes and food, etc. This is a great book for you to sit with and try a handful of examples at a time. It's simple, rewarding, quick and enjoyable.

huge thanks to netgalley and Better Day Books for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book it is one of the best I have read for anyone wanting to give watercolour painting a try. The projects are so simple yet extremely effective and impressive. The instructions are very clear with plenty of step by step illustrations.. It is inspiring because almost anyone could get some impressive results with these projects. I will be looking out for more titles from this author.

This is a wonderful introduction for someone willing to try their hand at watercolor. She provides great elementary instruction including a starter palette, brush selection, and starter techniques. My favorite part is the drawings. There is a page with only an outline that allows you to trace onto your own watercolor paper. The page following then provides step-by-step instructions on how she would paint it, including what technique to use (wet on dry, etc.) and when to let it dry. Her style is very organic, natural, and pretty, though it may not suit everyone.

My one complaint about this book is that it is overly simplified. While this is the "easy way," there is such a thing as too little instruction for a beginner, particularly for such a tricky medium like watercolor. I wish there had been a little more explanation in her beginning pages (only 1/5 is straight instruction, the remainder are images with basic steps). For instance, you can trace her designs using tracing paper, but how do you transfer it to watercolor paper? Do you erase the pencil marks? What does watercolor do to lead or graphite? How can you tell if a color is warm or cool? What if you can't afford six brushes, what is a good size to start with? How do you know if you are using too much water?

Overall, I still think a beginning watercolorist could benefit from this book, especially if you aren't sure what to paint or aren't a great drawer. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of the ebook from NetGalley. Because it was an electronic copy, I was unable to test out the exact images she provided.

Fun book that has encouraged me to get back into watercolors! Easy, colorful book! Gave me enough stuff to try as a beginner!

This is a great start for beginners trying to learn how to paint with watercolor (which I am). I found the information on paint, brushes, and techniques easy to understand and apply.
She provides a wide variety of objects to recreate from extremely easy to advanced, at least for a beginner. They showcase a wide variety of techniques you can do using watercolor.

I found this super helpful and will be trying out more of the techniques and templates she provides in the future. Hopefully it will help push me to actually practice painting.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*