A book about meditation and drawing. Detailed, simplified, step-by-step instructions for drawing birds and flowers. Based on the Chinese style of drawing with a brush.

Ink and brush as a means for drawing
Professional artist, author, and creative coach Monika Chilmi presents her book: "Mindful Artist: Birds and Botanicals. A meditative guide to using brush pens and ink to create birds, flowers, and more", published by Quarto Publishing Group - Walter Foster. After the introduction and two chapters about "Tools & Materials" and "Tips & Methods", the book offers the instructions for the painting of sixteen subjects (birds, plants), entitled, e.g., "Connecting with Nature," "Spread Your Wings," or "The Essence of a Rose." Chilmi uses brush and ink as well as Japanese brush pens for her drawings (p.4). She see "Drawing is an active meditation, inspired by your feelings related to the subject. You become the subject. For instance, focus your mind on the flying movement of a bird or the smell of flowers as you draw, and those things will become evident in your art" (p. 4).
The book comes with great illustrations. Chilmi offers black and colored sample paintings and lists also the tools and materials used for the various projects. The book is more than a simple workbook; the sub-title already states that it is a meditative guide. I recommend the book for all artist who are interested in the use of Japanese ink and brush pens. It can be used also by those who are interested in mindfulness and want to adapt the approach to other mediums.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#MindfulArtistBirdsAndBotanicals #Netgalley

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Whether you're exploring art, just love nature and want to sketch a what you see, or want to take the next step in proficiency, you'll find lots of ideas and how-tos in Cilmi's manual.

In Mindful Artist: Birds and Botanicals, Monika Cilmi demonstrates how to join together creativity and mindfulness.

After discussing various instruments and supplies, her step-by-step instructions guide beginning artists in centering their minds while creating. Perhaps she will instruct you to gently release a deep breath as you form a graceful line, or she will instruct you to pay attention to how you are holding your body.

This was a different type of art book to review, but this slim resource could be a welcome introduction to sketching as a way of releasing anxiety and bringing calm, something the majority of us could benefit from as we approach the two-year anniversary of COVID-19 markedly changing our lives.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

Mindful Artist: Birds and Botanicals is a new volume in the Mindful Artist series; this installment is by Monika Cilmi. Released 8th Feb 2022 by Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 128 pages and is available in paperback format.

Walter Foster is familiar and loved by readers everywhere for their specialized technique tutorial books and this one follows the same format. The introductory chapters include an overview over tools & materials, beginning techniques, and tips and methods.

The following chapters provide a really immersive and engaging group of specific subjects including classic stylized birds: crane, egret, penguin (!), hummingbird and others as well as botanical subjects: lotus, calla lilies, etc. The author doesn't spend a lot of time on specific brushstrokes or methods, but the tutorials do include a number of process illustrations showing the progress of each drawing. She also enhances the basic black & white drawings with dashes of color. There are no tutorial illustrations for preparing ink or much discussion of paper choices or hand/arm positions except in the vaguest terms. Intermediate students won't miss the lack of instruction, but beginners will struggle grinding ink, getting the hang of putting ink on paper, and the flow of the process unless they find the info elsewhere.

There is no index and the tutorial titles are non-specific and are called "Capturing the moment", "Connecting with nature", "Letting go", and similar. Given the nature of the book and the mindfulness aspect, I can understand inviting a measure of serendipity into the process, but it would have been nice to be able to see which tutorials were botanical, which were birds, etc without having to actually flip through the book. All in all, it's a nice book of tutorials for readers to enjoy. It's clear throughout that the author has a deep respect/reverence for the subject and techniques.

Four stars.

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

I was intrigued by the concept of this book, because I had some training in traditional Chinese brushwork as a kid. The artworks here are rather "fusion" to me, though I really liked how the vibrant colours accents the drawings in the book. I'm not sure if the step-by-step tutorial book is the best way to show how meditative the practice can be.

Absolutely beautiful book, I’m not sure my drawings will be as good. Really helpful step by step instructions, I’m impressed.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Author takes through the various steps on how to draw birds and botanicals using brush pens and similar items. The exercises gave me confident to draw seemingly complex items with few stokes. As a newbie to drawing itself, it introduced to a new way of approaching sketching birds and botanicals.

Mindful Artist aims to combine mindfulness and art. Although it provides step by step directions it lacks clarity and detail to be helpful to beginners. There is little connection between steps. A quick glance at the finished piece may give the reader an idea of the finished product. There is little drawing technique explanation or advice, but the reader should be prepared to have a significant amount of black ink on hand.
As a study in meditation it too lacks depth to serve as a guide. It does provide basics of Japanese art and may be inspiring to some but again light on the details.
Sadly, I did not learn any new techniques in art or mindfulness.

"Mindful Artist: Birds and Botanicals" described meditative brush pen drawing for 11 birds and 5 flowers. The projects didn't look like specific types of birds, though they were posed in a variety of positions. The flowers were also usually vague "flowers" rather than specific types. The author focused on describing how to make the experience meditative rather than on things like proportion. The point was the process, not the end result. The text and step-by-step illustrations showed what part to draw next. There were some tips on getting the stylized look using brush pens, but most of the instructions were along the lines of "draw a few short, curved strokes around the center." Most of the projects were in black ink, but some added bright colors. Overall, I'd recommend this book to people interested in "mindful" art.

As someone who has always wanted to be good at drawing and painting, but never was, I deeply appreciate how easy the instructions in this book are to follow!

Many years ago I learnt how to do Chinese painting with an ink block and special brush. Time has taken me to the use of other mediums, but I never forgot the simple art of the Chinese painting and the complete focus the stoke and flow of the ink and brush.
Whilst this book uses Japanese ink brushes, it has the similar concept and the projects are very simple yet refine, and take artists to a more gentler place. I love the fact that it covers birds and botanicals as each stroke of the brush can say so much.

If your new years resolution is to be more present, take up a new hobby or incorporate mindfulness into your day, then this is the book for you.
I felt calmer even just reading the introduction to the book which outlines that the point of the drawing exercise is the process and not the finished result. There's a great section of resources at the beginning of the book which lists the materials needed and tips and methods to help you. There are step by step instructions to complete the mindful drawings and each exercise is themed with a mindfulness concept like capturing the moment or letting go.
All in all it's a great resource both for mindfulness and for Japanese inspired art. I would certainly recommend it.

Overall, I like this book. The artwork is beautiful and inspiring. I like how the author, or her editors, get us right into the content without too much preliminary material. Many other art instruction books err in providing too much preliminary material before getting into the content.

However for this book, I think it is a defect that there isn’t more preliminary material. The author gets right into references to mindfulness without any even cursory explanation of what mindfulness is or means and how it can help developing artists improve in producing artwork. Some short explanation should be provided along with references to other books which can help a developing artist explore the subject in depth on her own. Of course it’s difficult to try to boil a subtle and complex subject like mindfulness as it applies to art practice into perhaps a page or two of exposition, but since it seems to be a central motivator for the author and she refers to applying mindfulness in trying to make drawings as she does in this book, it should be attempted.

Second, there should be more material on practice strokes to help readers try to achieve the results the author gets. What is provided is a very cursory box, on half a page, with some strokes in it to serve as exemplars, but this brief material is not very helpful. There should be at least 2 or 3 pages of instruction in how to practice brush strokes to help readers attempt to get results which could come closer to what the artist has drawn. If page count is an issue, then at least links to a web page where more thorough and detailed instruction is provided, would be helpful.

Finally, the book should have a bibliography. Surely the artist has learned from, referred to, and read other books on this subject which she may admire or at least respect. A short, but at least one page bibliography should be provided which includes some books on mindfulness as it relates to practicing and producing art, and on Asian-style brush and ink work.

I work as a professional and can afford to art books and I have many on drawing in general and drawing in pen and ink. I would buy this book, especially if a bit more instruction was provided in the technique as used by the author, and I would recommend it to friends who have gone some way down the path of drawing practice, but I would not recommend it to any beginner artist even as a first book on brush and ink technique because its lack of instruction in some basic brushstrokes would frustrate a beginner.

Mindful Artist: Birds and Botanicals is a meditative guide book teaching you how to use brush pens and ink to create birds and botanicals. The tools section demonstrates the traditional tools and methods for brush and ink.
Step by step tutorials are are given that will help you to draw and explore the mindful and spiritual side of doing each project. Each one explores a particular theme and guides your focus. It is a beautiful book with lots of meditative food for thought. It would make a lovely gift.

What an incredible book. I don't draw myself, but with these steps it made it feel both simple and beautiful. You don't have to be an expert in drawing, but drawing can be a good way to connect with the creative side of your brain and feel less stressed, and be more calm. It was a really nice journey to be on in this book, and I would love to see what comes next.

I love this book! I like to draw but I don't really have a knack for it, so my drawings don't usually turn out like the examples in "how-to" books like this. This book focuses on how you can make drawing a meditative practice, so that it's' a positive experience no matter what the end product looks like. It gives suggestions for and pictures of relatively inexpensive materials that you may already have at home. The projects are beautiful and flexible, so you can draw what you are feeling in the moment, and walk away feeling calmer, not frustrated. It was helpful to me that for the different strokes, the instructions described how much pressure to apply at each part in order to create the different effects. It even has suggested breathwork that you can incorporate too if you are so inclined. I can see myself coming back to this over and over again even after completing all the projects.

I was provided with an advanced reader copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Whether you use the traditional ink stone, stick and brush (used for calligraphy by Buddhist monks and scholars), or ‘fudepens’ (the modern Japanese brush pen), this inspiring book guides you through the process of creating beautiful and simple birds and flowers. The author explains that by practicing the drawings you will also have a positive mindfulness experience. The book has sixteen painting subjects. Thank you to Monika Cilmi, Net Galley and Quarto for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Free Netgalley book for review!~. A beautiful book with some inspiring tutorials! This really does show that sometimes less is more. I’m wanting to pull out my black brush markers again for sure after reading this.

I’d argue that this is definitely more focused on birds than flowers though. Out of the projects there are only a few flowers (rose, cala lily, water lily [I think that’s it?]) along with some drippy flowers —and you guessed it, another bird! Not that there’s anything wrong with that but if you’re wanting more botanical flowers I wouldn’t look here first.

However the way the artist draws birds is truly amazing, I’m super impressed and not at all sure I could replicate the confidence of those simple but effective brush lines.

As for the mindfulness/spiritual bits, not sure how to review that since it’s not a part of my working process when making art. I’ll leave that for some other review to cover. 🤷‍♀️

This was a gorgeous book of mindfulness and using mindfulness to create art.

The beginning section explored the tools used (both contemporary and traditional) before leading the reader down the path of meditative drawing using step by step tutorials that both guide your pencil and your mind. Each illustration has a theme to focus on while drawing, which in turn becomes something conveyed in the drawing itself.

A beautiful book that I look forward to re-reading and working through again.

~Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~