Beautiful illustrations and wonderful color schemes pop off the page. I loved the encouragement and engaging narrative.

I'm not an artist, although I do love painting with watercolours.. Painting Happiness by Terry Runyan is a watercolour painting book that aims to help silence the inner critic and get you painting with joy.

The opening sections of the book are all about the headspace of painting, and all the ways that one can stall - and how to move past the mental blocks that keep one from putting brush to paper. The 30-day project prompts and the further, more specific ideas in later sections are all accessible ways to create and find your own style.

The section covering tools and materials includes both student-grade and professional equipment, in order to suit any budget, and there are heaps of good tips and techniques in here as well.

Overall the message in this book is : play. Play with your paints. Play with your style. Play and create for 5 minutes a day until it becomes second nature.

I'll be looking out for a copy of this on the shelves to keep in my box of paints for inspiration.

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

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

Painting Happiness is an uplifting and creative watercolour, painting guidebook that leaves you feeling happier for just reading it. I loved the artwork in this book and found it uplifting and enjoyable. The author includes mindfulness within this book which is something I love as I feel we all need to incorporate more mindfulness into our daily lives. The author goes through the usual things at the beginning such as supplies you'll need, equipment, styles etc then breaks down each painting and exercise into nice sized chunks.
This is a very inspirational book and I might have a go at some of these painting ideas at a later date.

Painting Happiness is a wonderful book for the watercolorist who catches his/herself saying “i can’t paint”. You can. We all can. Paint something. It doesn’t have a be a lifelike portrait that has people examining it asking, “is this a photograph”? I loved the pictures (instead of hair on a lady’s head…why not a cat? The author suggests a small kit of a few colors and devoting just 5 minutes a day. Painting for happiness and stress relief is the goal. We’re not painting to sell art, we’re painting for the enjoyment.

Thank you #netgalley for the ARC of #PaintingHappiness

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* this was a great watercolor book, I'm not that great with watercolor but this book seemed manageable! would buy and give it a try

Wonderfully instructive and beautifully presented.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I have to buy this book! I’ve struggled with self doubt in my creativity for so long and Painting Happiness addresses all of this with a gentle and kind voice. The advice and guidance in here addresses so many of the negative thoughts I wasn’t even realizing I was having, plus lots of cute cat drawings!

Being new to watercolor, I focus mainly on landscapes. This book broke me out of that shell. The author’s whimsical style pushed my boundaries not only on the scene to paint, but also my creative mind. This book goes further than basic instruction. It offers permission, confidence and creativity. So fun!

I love Terry Runyan’s fun and inspiring art! I follow her on YouTube and Skillshare so I definitely wanted her new book. I already have two of her books “Draw 62 Characters” and “Make Them Happy.” It’s a wonderful book to inspire and help with starting your watercolor painting journey. It’s illustrated throughout and has fun projects. Perfect for beginners!

I enjoyed this book; I have recently been doodling and this book has come at a great time!

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

I love the author's whimsical style so I was very interested in seeing this book. This book is about exploring watercolor as a medium and is geared towards those looking to play with different techniques rather than pure instruction. There are several simple projects that are broken down for beginners designed to teach color, texture and technique. With the current interest in mindfulness and crafting, this should be a popular title.

I absolutely adore this book. Firstly it's a book that has exercises I can do but also exercises (such as the blob birds) that my 8-year old can have great fun doing too. I always felt like I was useless at art school and this book makes me excited to be getting creative and painting again. It's pure joy and I immediately bought the hard copy of the book as soon as it was released. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

It's been a couple of decades since I played with watercolors. In college, we were taught to paint what we saw, so I have a lot of paintings of rocks, and trees, and old stone houses. Maybe, just maybe, if I'd been taught to paint from my imagination, I might still be creating small works of art.

Runyan's book is all about imagination and creativity, finding inspiration, and stifling that pesky "inner critic." She covers all the basics: supplies, and techniques, including those unique to the medium of watercolor, PLUS helps jump start your imagination with a list of ideas you can borrow to get started.

I love Runyan's cheery, whimsical paintings that look so much like children's book illustrations. If, like me, you're drawn to the cover of this one, I'm guessing you will love what's on the inside. It's a playful, joyous celebration of creativity for beginners, or those considering jumping back into the medium, and anyone who needs a brightly-colored kick in the pants to get painting.

I absolutely loved this book! As someone who started taking painting classes during the pandemic as a way to cope with stress, I felt like the Runyan read my mind. The first portion of the book has some simple instructions on how to get started, and then the majority of the book has painting exercises. Even though I already know the basics of watercolor, the prompts and guidance to spark creativity were really helpful. I'd definitely recommend this to any patron getting started with watercolor.

I enjoyed this book, which gently introduces mindfulness and watercolors. The author reminds the artists not to take themselves to seriously and enjoy the flow.
I recommend this book to those trying to find ways of relaxing or as a beginners guide to watercolour.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this book. It's absolutely beautiful and I have been enjoying trying out several of the projects so far. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

Terry Runyan has written a book designed to get people over the biggest hurdle whenever interested in a new hobby - getting started!! It's easy to gather all the tools and supplies you need for the craft, it's not so easy to overcome the "fear" of actually starting to do it.

She gently gives the reader confidence to just play and practice, to suspend judgement of our results, to just enjoy exploring a new interest, and feeling creative. I don't know about you, but this kind of "come on, have fun, just do it!" is sometimes exactly what I need!

My thanks to Leaping Hare Press for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

Absolutely loved this book. It looks gorgeous and has techniques to get your creativity flowing. I definitely recommend it. Thank you #netgalley

Beautiful book. Lots of prompts, tips, encouragement.

The book starts with what most art books start with - information on supplies, color theory, etc.

From there it moves into some encouragement and tips. There’s a discussion about imposter syndrome and feeling your art is never good enough and how to overcome those thoughts.

Then it moves into actual projects. And it really just dives right in as project 1 is actually a 30 day project. The first 5 days you are taking just one of the prompts from the including list of prompts and turning that into a painting, dog for example. Days 6-10 you choose two prompts and put them together in one painting. Days 11-15 you combine three prompts in your painting. Days 16-30 are you just mixing and matching whatever jumps out at you. That may be my fave single practice challenge of those I’ve seen so far.

There are many other projects that encourage you to observe the world around you, s=to scribble, to play with shapes, etc.

There’s a strong focus on painting cats, birds, and faces.

Lovely book for those wanting to try watercolors or who are just struggling dealing with creative blocks or how to get started with painting when you have no experience.

Painting Happiness is the perfect name for this book on creative watercolor painting, because just looking a author/artist Terry Runyan's work made me extremely happy! Her paintings are joyful, whimsical, colorful, creative, yet simple at heart.

This is the perfect book for one wanting to push their artistic creativity, or just to practice creativity in general. Watercolor is such a beautiful and fun medium to paint in. The author breaks it down into bite size chapters, awash with beautiful paintings. First she talks about conquering the Inner Critic, that one that tells you you're not good enough and you're certainly no artist. Next is a chapter on learning the basics, what you will need to buy in order to create.

Following chapters include "what stops us", more encouragement for the new artist. Then an exercise on mindfulness and being present. Years ago when I practiced art, I was amazed at how painting a cloud made me so much more aware of the clouds in the skies, and their color shading and nuances. The author tells you how to notice more in the world around you. Eventually there are painting projects and ideas. My favorite was how she took a blob of paint and turned it into a cute animal,

This book certainly made me want to pull out my old paints and brushes and try my hand at some of these painting exercises. It's very inspirational!

Thank you to NetGalley, Terry Runyan, and Quarto Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.