Easy projects for Beginners
Artist Bley Hack works mainly in watercolors and presents her book "Watercolor Painting at Home. Easy-to-follow painting projects inspired by the comforts of home and the colors of the garden", published by Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster. This is a book of the "Inspired Artist Series" that is aimed for art hobbyists and casual art enthusiasts. The first part of the book touches topics such as "Finding Inspiration," "Tools & Materials," "Painting Techniques," "Design," and "Color Theory and Color Palettes." The second part of the book presents fifteen step-by-step projects such as "Fruit Bowl Still Life," "Kitchen Collection," and "Flora Outside Your Window." As a goal for her readers Hack invites them into her house and states: "I will show you how to look around at your surroundings and generate ideas One point I would like to emphasize is that the subject matter does not necessarily have to elicit excitement to make for an exciting painting If you look at historical and contemporary artists, many of them can take the most mundane subjects and turn them into brilliant work While our endeavors may not live on in history, they can inspire us to use the things at hand as fodder for our painting practice" (p. 5).
I like it that Hack makes it clear to her readers that one does not have to travel far to find inspiration for painting. There are tips, comments and blobs entitled "More Ideas" throughout the books. They are helpful and I appreciate also the fact that Hack shows ideas how paintings can be used, e.g. as cupcake toppers or for giftbags. I recommend this book for beginners and advanced artists who are looking for new ideas and who do not have the possibility to travel far.
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.
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I, really loved the book. If you are a beginner and want to learn Watercolor Painting, then you cannot miss this one. The graphics are good and the artist has perfectly described each and every step. Also, materials to be used are also listed. Also, the author has included all the designs ranging from daily life practicing which you can create your own designs also. Definitely, 5 stars for the book.

I wasn't super wild about the painting style and a lot of the projects in this book, but it is very accessible and easy to follow and I did really enjoy other projects like the flowers.

The author gives information to help even absolute beginners do watercolors. You follow along with her painting projects of things like a bowl of fruit, a gathering of painting supplies, or jewelry on a dresser. First you lightly sketch them and then you paint them in, in order. I personally prefer to paint without sketching in pencil first. I was confused by one of the step-by-step photos because it shows you to paint in the fruit and then on the next photo there is a red and white flower painted over an orange where it's obvious the space of the flower should have been left unpainted (for white you leave no paint, since you can't paint with white over orange). I suspect the author did multiple paintings for the steps and just used one where she forgot to leave room for the flower but if you follow that step you won't be able to do the next one as is.

This is a very good book if you like "follow me" kind of tutorials. Hack also does give you information to do some on your own. My favorite section was the end where multiple flowers are shown like dahlias and asters.

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

This is a thoroughly charming guide to watercolor! I found this to be a lovely read, with wonderful illustrations and tips for becoming a better watercolorist. I'm nowhere near artistic, but this was a fun read and I enjoyed practicing my painting with this as a guide. I'd recommend to anyone who has ever considered the medium of watercolor before.

Watercolor Painting at Home provides good technique and fun lessons for artist new to watercolor painting. The exercises and examples are great inspiration. Guidance on letting the brush work for the artist is especially helpful. A well-designed book that is enjoyable to read and easy to follow.

Really enjoy the techniques that were shown here. I’ve always thought watercolour is too scary to try but the author gave step by step instructions for different types of pictures that were easy to follow. I only wish the book was longer!

This was a fun read. Material was presented so that you can reference the techniques but also make it your own. Painting concepts were easy to understand. Great book for creative people, but I found myself hoping for more practice techniques for gradient, wet on wet, etc.

This is an utterly gorgeous and inspiring book.

Watercolor Painting at Home is a wonderful guide to finding the beauty in the day to day of your life and painting it. I love the idea of painting our collection of glass bottles that I refashioned to use as kitchen herb planters, or my Kindle or one our cats sleeping next to my mug of tea with a cookie, that concept takes the majority of my stress - my desire to paint with watercolors but my weird anxious worrying about what to paint and then not painting at all because I can’t think of anything to paint. This reminds me to go outside in our yard and look at the spring flowers that have begun blooming about, or take a look at my unorganized bookshelves and try to paint the charm of those perfect imperfections of our lives.

The book itself is beautiful. Wonderfully whimsical paintings abound in these pages and I found myself just wanting to start painting again. I can’t give it high enough praise for that.

I loved the inclusion of craft ideas for your paintings at the end.

This is an absolute recommendation.

Watercolour painting at home is very useful book tells you what equipment you need colour scheme and even goes through step by step how to pain certain pictures in the book. I like how there is lots of pictures and a bit of writing which breaks it all up. The book is very colourful and useful for people who are interested in water-colouring.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.