This informative book covers everything you'll need to take up watercolour painting. It has a detailed section on tools and materials, that covers type of canvas/paper and then goes into the weight and texture of the watercolour papers. It also covers brushes, right down to the part names, types and sizes and of course the different types of paint.
The brush techniques section impressed me as it gave a load of ideas based on the different brush shapes.
When it covered the different topics such as flowers, birds, animals and figures, each project came with easy to follow instructions and gorgeous step by step pictures to match.
My absolute favourites being the hippo and chameleon!
I felt inspired after reading this book and can't wait to try some out for myself!
Thanks to Netgalley and the author and publisher for a temporary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was full of good tips. I enjoyed the concept of being able to produce a piece quickly, which I think may make a lower barrier-to-entry for new artists than other beginner books.

This is an excellent book to get anyone started in watercolour. The 15 minute exercises are indeed effortless and help to build confidence for anyone new to the medium of watercolour. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to get started on their artistic journey.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A great book for beginners in watercolor painting.

Lovely little book on getting started with watercolours.

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

I’m a painter, but have always been a little intimidated by the medium of watercolor; I found this book super useful and beginner friendly. It has great descriptions of brushes to use and how to use them, different types of paper and paints. I also enjoyed the quick exercises provided, they are a great jumping off point to further watercolor practice.

As a new watercolor painter, this book was easy to follow and allowed me to create and complete beautiful paintings in a single sitting. The images have both realistic and abstract elements, giving depth and beauty. It makes you look like a pro! Great gift idea, too.

Would make the best first book for people who are stepping into world of watercolour and are hesitant to start painting. All projects are small and the free style gives freedom to play.

A great book to delve into if you are new to watercolour painting or need some inspiration on what to paint. It provides great tips and techniques on how to form different effects on paper with the paint and how to embrace the sometimes uncontrollable aspcts of this painting medium. I was able to have a go at some of the ideas in the book in about the time-frame that they suggested in 15 minutes, so it is great if you are wanting to paint but don't have lots of time. If you have a busy lifestyle, it is useful as if you feel like you want to paint, but don't have all day/evening to dedicate to a project, you know that with this book yo ucan do something in a short space of time but still make something beautiful/worthwhile/learn something new. .

This quick book is full of fun and easy projects for watercolor beginners. The range of topics is great: still life, animals, people and others.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Covers everything right from the start, from the types of brushes, paper, paints and different techniques to try. The exercises are simple and help explain some of the techniques, they also look nice as starter art. Some of the flowers and birds are quite impressive.

15 Minute Painting: Effortless Watercolor is an approachable introduction to watercolors for beginners. It has more than enough variety in projects to keep readers painting: fruit, flowers, people, and animals. Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for review copy.

The 15-Minute Painting book is for the absolute beginner. You don't need any previous knowledge or anatomy lessons to be able to do any of these paintings. You can use any materials you already have. It's very straightforward.

It's a short easy to follow instructional booklet. Not many new things that haven't been done in other beginner's books. The blurb is spot on and I'd recommend it if you're looking for a book that doesn't intimidate you to start a new hobby or try things out.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have done a couple of watercolor paintings and have really been wanting to learn the basics so that I can paint more and understand the tools and techniques. When I saw this book, I decided that it looked perfect and wanted to try it out. While there were some helpful things I learned from this book, I feel that there was too much lacking to make it really work for me. It would be better for someone who already has some knowledge of watercolor painting and is able to follow along more with simple explanations that didn't really explain well enough.

Things I liked about the book: There was a good description of paper options and brush choices. There was an aesthetically pleasing layout. I especially enjoyed the watercolor paper used in the background for the headings of each chapter. There was an explanation as to why certain colors were used for balance in one of the paintings. The animal and figure drawings/paintings had steps that were simple enough to follow successfully for a beginning painter.

Reasons the book was not for me: There wasn't enough explanation of some of the steps for the paintings. For example, there were steps listed for painting the azalea, but there weren't accompanying illustrations for the steps to make sense. For some paintings, steps were skipped. For example, there was a tip listed at the bottom of the page for painting birds. The tip said to let the branch dry first, but there was never a step to even paint the branch. There was also a direction for painting leaves that said to pull color from the outline, but it never said to paint the outlines. There were also things that as a beginner, I just didn't understand and wished could be explained better. For example, the phrases "wet on wet" , "dry on dry", and "wash of color".

While this book didn't end up being for me, with a few additions, it could be a better book for a beginner. Otherwise, someone who has some knowledge of watercolor painting may enjoy this author's ideas.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of #15MinutePaintingEffortlessWatercolor by #AngelaMarieMoulton in exchange for an honest review.

This book is useful, but only for a very select subset of audience. It is truly excellent at helping you to explore how watercolor moves and interacts, but you need to have a good grounding in another medium to really make the most use out of it. The steps are clear and easy to follow, but step one is often "make a sketch". You need a lot of confidence in your forms and shapes before you really dive in. Also, it does not seem to include drying time between layers in the 15-minutes. Learning to wait so that everything doesn't turn to mud is a vital watercolor skill that gets glossed over here. All that said, I made some loose, cheerful paintings really quickly. This is a great warm up your sketchbook, get some new ideas book, but the true beginner may leave frustrated.

I love this book. So simple to follow and the initial pages where you are encouraged to just have ago are great. Such a triumph that I can't wait to get started!

A completed painting in 15 minutes is doable, but should you? The loose and abstract style suggests that the time frame is adequate, but not for those looking at more realism or a more controlled style. 15 Minute Painting does go over some basics, but there is no mention of sketching, framing, or color palettes. The animal studies highlight the simplistic style lends itself well to the overall cuteness.

Learn to create simple, colorful works of art using easy, step-by-step watercolor painting techniques that require minimal time, effort, and only the most basic supplies.
An ideal "first book" for absolute beginners, 15-Minute Painting: Effortless Watercolor uses large brushstrokes and minimal, colorful palettes to help budding artists create light, carefree paintings in practically no time at all. After a quick overview of the basic tools and materials, including papers, brushes, and paints, and a brief introduction to choosing and mixing colors, Effortless Watercolor demonstrates how to use just a few brushstrokes to create lively works of art in a simple, modern style.

From vibrant birds and florals to expressive landscapes and still lifes, follow along with these step-by-step projects to create quick-and-easy masterpieces—a perfect formula for artists just getting started. Effortless Watercolor provides a unique introduction to watercolor painting, from choosing the right brushes and paints to creating inspired works of art using easy painting techniques—no experience required.

Books in the 15-Minute Series are perfect primers for beginning artists who want to learn the basics. Designed to be used as artist notebooks, these interactive workbooks include prompts and exercises that allow beginning artists to test out their skills directly inside the book.

My Thoughts: This is a book packed full of information, well written, easy to follow, and lots of photos! This is a wonderful book for those just starting out in watercolor, or those interested to see what it may entail. With plenty of exercises and demonstrations for techniques and equipment needed, the reader will enjoy and get a lot of information from this book
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

1.5 stars.

This book is aimed at more experienced drawers and beginners at watercolours.
It starts with a very comprehensive explanation of many of the things you need and the basics of watercolours. Yet it is missing two, in my opinion, very important aspects.

The first is watercontrol. This book never even talks about it, while it is really the most important thing of using watercolours. The amount of water you use decides how the colour behaves, and if you get watercolour blooms. I'm not saying watercolour blooms are necessarily bad, they can definitely be used in paintings, but it's better to understand how and why they appear rather than just have the reader figure it out on their own. Watercolour blooms are neglected completely, and are present in some of the pictures in the book. So the reader can't "replicate" the tutorials without making watercolour blooms, yet is never told how.

The second is how colours get muddied. Because this is 15 minute watercolour, everything is quite rushed, and colours blend into each other and get muddied. Again, this isn't necessarily bad, yet the first time the cause of this get mentioned was at page 83, if I'm correct. This should have been in the basic technique sections, discussing the difference between using colours while the paper is still slightly damp vs when it's completely dry. But it's never really explained other than "let it dry more if you want better defined colours." Which is a pity, because this book starts with some very strong, easy to understand explanations.

On to some other minor issues. It's assumed you can draw everything mentioned in the book, as the tutorials all start after the sketch is done. There is little mention of erasing pencil lines/making them light. Instead, we are told this is unnecessary because we'll cover it with watercolour anyway. transparent watercolour. And once you've added watercolour, the original pencil line gets hard/impossible to erase, so if they are still visable and you wish they weren't, tough luck. This isn't mentioned at all, and I wish it was.

Then there is the tutorial which clearly forgets one of the steps in the text. In the second bird picture, there is clearly some green dropped on the birds belly in the pictures, but the text only mentions using the dark green for the top of the head and the wings. I read this part three times to see if I just missed it, but it simply wasn't there.

While this book started out stong, with very good explanations, it misses some important things. Add to that the missing step in one of the tutorial and I have trouble giving this book a high rating.

I would only recommend this book for someone who is truly s beginner. The tools and explanations for each project was very nice. I wish it pushed the reader to try more complex techniques. I think many of the projects were really simple which is nice for complete beginners but not so nice for intermediate artists who are just new to watercolors. I still appreciated the tools section the most.