This. Was a fun and thought-provoking read. It gave me new insights on meditation practice. It made me wet to get back on much cushion. Now I need to put it into action

Once you have been a book blogger for a while, you have many options for books to review. I chose The Color Meditation Deck because I want to remove the stress of using the new watercolor supplies that I received for Mother’s Day.

What stress could water coloring cause? I have a fear of failing. If my painting doesn’t look like something that should be auctioned at Christie’s, I’m going to be disappointed.

Enter this book into my life. It gives prompts for subjects and restricts your choices further by providing parameters for your artwork. For example, your subject is dots, and your parameter is to use a limited number of colors. Or to work with shades and tints of a single hue. It’s a genius solution for artist’s block. Just to get you started. Since I don’t meditate, I can’t tell you if it works for meditation, but it definitely makes me feel less stressed while I am painting my way through the book’s prompts.

Overall, The Color Meditation Deck is a great way for aspiring artists to begin their journey and for existing artists to break out of a rut. 4 stars!

Thanks to Roost Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

The Color Meditation Deck is an interesting and information dense tutorial on color theory with inspiration prompts by Lisa Solomon. Released 12th July 2022 by Roost Books, it's 110 pages in card format with 62 individual cards in the deck.

This is such a calm and meditative book. The author's voice is gentle, knowledgeable, and encouraging. The prompts are full of reference theory with thorough illustrations on basic groundwork: tint, shade, palettes, and color schemes. There is nothing stress inducing to be found here and I found the lack of direct expectations very freeing and, honestly, fun.

I received an eARC for review, so it's not possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the individual card format, but the information and color theory contained in the book is helpful and solid. It's not full of "woo woo" and artists who are less interested in meditation than color theory will still find this a useful resource.

Four stars. It would make a good candidate for acquisition for maker's spaces, group studio, or the artist's private studio.

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

It was really hard to get full use of this deck since I was given a digital version from NetGalley, but the information that was given in the beginning was fun and easy to understand.

I received this galley from NetGalley. I think it would be much more beneficial as the deck. There were some great meditation ideas or creative starters. I liked using the ideas as a warm-up to get me started painting. It would be fun to have it in the deck of cards.

So inspiring!! So beautiful!! I'm so glad that even thought this is a digital copy we were able to see the art in good quality and also read the cards descriptions. It's truly inspiring, I think it helps us in so many ways. I'll buy a copy once it's available to re-read it many, many times over my life. Thank you for sharing on NetGalley.

These little deck of cards lets one loose on creativity on a smaller scale. Whilst not investing in a big scale painting, it allows the artist to explore color and space in a very free envioroment.
These cards are all about learning about color wheels, equipment, water color medium and trying things. . Let the Mediation deck be your guide. to a fabulous world of freedom with paint.

When this deck is published I am sure it will be a big hit! We have Lisa’s previous book in the library and it is well loved and borrowed. The deck is something I will certainly recommend even though we won’t have a copy in the library to lend out if it is in card form which I assume it will be.
The many many combinations and ideas generated from using ‘The Color Meditation Deck’ are endlessly inspiring and the illustrations are lovely and inspiring by themselves.
I would buy this as a gift for anyone who is interested in making art.

It's hard to properly review a book that also comes with a stack of art cards, but this seems like a fun way to combine art and meditation practice. The basic idea is that you pull cards and follow the prompts, like paint using dots or chevron designs. It seems like something I'd enjoy as a daily prompt, provided the cards and book were affordable enough. None of the prompts were particularly earth shattering for me. They are mostly types of designs, like lines or patterns of some sort. I think I would have preferred some prompts that were more esoteric and inspirational, like some concepts more than shape assignments. That said, I could see the artist in me having fun with this one.

I read a temporary, self-destroying digital ARC of this product for review.

A quaint, inspirational doodling guide perfect for lovers of journaling, watercolour, painting, and playing with colours and designs.

I had no idea what to expect with The Color Meditation Deck but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. What I found was a whole world of inspiration even for a clueless artist such as myself. Lisa Solomon did an amazing job taking the time to breakdown paint, color, materials, and the overall concept of drawing into a meditation through painting.

I loved the exercises in this book - the format makes it easy to access an infinite number of random prompts by drawing cards from the beautiful deck. The copy I reviewed was not in deck form so I can't speak to the quality of the cards, but the designs are lovely and the prompts are thought provoking. I look forward to purchasing my own copy of the actual deck!

The idea for this book came to Lisa Solomon from times when she felt stuck or lacked motivation during her painting, so she would do a mini watercolor exercise and feel refreshed and recharged!

She used the mini paintings to explore unusual colors side by side, or to experiment with different hues or saturations that she might want to use in a real painting. She called these warm-up or meditation paintings. (Watercolors are not required, any medium will do.)

The deck of cards that are included with this book have colors and patterns on one side (they are suggestions or ideas for painting exercises), and on the opposite side, an explanation of the prompt and the approach Ms. Solomon used. She said that doing these small exercises regularly (for 5-10 minutes, or longer) helped her grow as an artist, and she felt more satisfied, because the meditations were also time to play, try new things, and make mistakes! Ms. Solomon reports that she is still learning things about color from the exercises.

In the text, Ms. Solomon discusses techniques,
color theory and combinations, showing color wheels that make the concepts clear, along with other important topics.

I found this exercise concept to be interesting and exciting. I often don't have more than 10-15 minutes at a time, so starting a project can be unrealistic and depressing. The timing works for me. Creativity is my meditation; it gives me a sense of satisfaction and relieves stress that nothing else can, and it helps me remain positive--which I certainly need! I have been looking for a way to get back to watercolor painting for many years, and this is my answer! Thank you!

5/5 Stars

Thanks to RoostBooks and NetGalley for the free preview of this ebook pdf; the review is voluntary.

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#CraftsHobbies #NonFictionCraftsHobbies
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Stars 3.5 digital (the hardback is likely higher)

This book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I like the idea of meditation through watercolors. Art can be very therapeutic and I often use it to put myself back into balance. I was thinking about freestyle using wet techniques, the use of color blends, so one can turn your brain off doodling. Instead, it reads like a beginner's guide to watercolors.

This book would be a great resource for an artist wanting to try a new medium. I'd also recommend this book for middle to high school-age children, or teachers that educate this age range. The beginning chapters cover basic information, such as color theory, paper & tools of the trade, and setting up a palette.

Personally, I don't find art prompts "stress free." I was overwhelmed with the amount of verbiage and straining my eyes looking at a postal stamp (US) catalog. My digital copy wouldn't enlarge any artwork. That said, I'd recommend a physical copy. I was confused with the author saying, grab a color mediation card. Does this book come with cards? I'm not sure.

I wouldn't recommend this book to an experienced watercolor artist. (I didn't learn anything new) That said, I'll likely use what I have learned in this book for warm-up exercises in my sketchbook. The result would be very satisfying!

Thank you, NetGalley and Roost Books, for this digital ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful book!

The digital version isn't as easy to navigate - you need to cut the cards out of the physical version of the book. The deck has different kinds of cards with different requirements or suggestions. The book is a guide on how to use the deck as well as information about color theory, hues, saturation, and other information. You can then use the deck to generate ideas and practice the techniques in your work.

Overall an interesting find!

I appreciate her descriptions of color theory and attempts to make beginning accessible, such as by encouraging you to use what you have or can afford to get started. The cards seem repetitive to the book but I can see where perhaps it is nice to have the information presented in both ways. If you’re already an artist, this deck likely won’t offer you much, but if you’re beginning I think it holds some useful inspiration and tips.

I like the reminder that meditation/grounding and self-care doesn’t only have to be traditional methods like deep breathing or sitting in silence. Art can be incredibly therapeutic and joyful. This deck feels like a good start to making art freely but if you’re liking for something beyond art prompts, you may want to look elsewhere. Overall a solid choice for anyone looking to make more art or use art to relax.

I dove right into this book the second I was approved. The only downside is that it would be way better as a physical book and not an ebook. I got a bit confused because the author kept saying to grab a color mediation card from the deck but it was hard to locate the deck in the ebook format. The designs were soothing to draw and the author did a great job going through materials and palettes and brushes, which was interesting to learn more about. I definitely plan to try this with some of my MS/HS students though I think I need the physical book to really get into it! 

Thank you Roost Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked The Color Meditation Deck. It seemed like an easy and fun way to jumpstart one's creativity. I could see it being used in library programming for a watercolor class. It would be really fun to see how everyone interpreted the prompt. Users would not need to be watercolor or painting experts to participate.

ARC via NetGalley