I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I had to order this from a library far away to get a look. It is a beautiful book of easy nature watercolor ideas, and I will probably purchase a copy for myself.

I recommend this book be added to the watercolor section of our art collection. Nice mandalas to paint and relax with. Great works of art!

Inga Buividavice’s Painting Calm presents an immersive journey into creating introspective watercolour art using nature as inspiration. Buividavice’s artwork draws the viewers in with a gorgeous interplay of of soothing colours and shapes. Take 'Dusk’s Resilience', reflecting the calm of twilight, and inviting profound contemplation.

Likewise, 'Ethereal Symphony' suggests a dawn at sea, a balance between reflective serenity and melancholic resonance. Every piece of art underscores Buividavice's unique skill in integrating thought-provoking narrative and tranquility both into her art. Throughout, you learn her tips and tricks for crafting your own soothing watercolourscapes.

Painting Calm carries the overarching themes of introspection and serenity, while unmasking the viewer's inner chaos. Highly recommended for exploring your own innerscapes and artistic talent.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The mandala on the front page is so meditative. It took me many days where I walk, to know the shape of a tree. I can imagine how long it would take to study nature to depict it. There is an emphasis on adding layers the second time, overlapping parts. You slow down enough to let your mind draw and relax. Well titled book.

"Painting Calm" is a breath of fresh air. Inga Buivadavice's watercolour instruction book seamlessly blends art therapy and nature's healing powers to guide readers towards inner tranquility. Whether you're a seasoned painter or a complete beginner, the accessible prompts and beautiful illustrations make this journey to mindful wellbeing a joyful and uplifting experience. Get ready to unleash your inner artist and connect with nature in a whole new way. I really enjoyed paging through this book with its beautiful art.

I enjoyed Inga's book. She gave good examples of how to simplify the creative process when you may fear failure. She provided insight to how to work with watercolors and learn the flow and creativity you can use with watercolors. I had a great time with trying out her processes to get the creative juices flowing again!

Explore nature and paint it in watercolor.
Basic instruction on watercolor, very simple projects that anybody can do.
Limitations:
- it's only for beginners
- very restricted subject matter: only some flowers and foliage
- it's more about a contemplative activity than art instruction

"Painting Calm: Connect to Nature through the Art of Watercolor" by Inga Buividavice is a truly delightful and serene book that beautifully combines the art of watercolor with a deep connection to nature.

Buividavice's artistic expertise shines through every page, as she masterfully captures the essence of nature in her watercolor paintings

Until I was in my 20s, I didn’t realise I was able to create art. I was told by art teachers at school that I couldn’t draw, that I couldn’t paint. And they didn’t encourage me to try to learn or improve. Instead, I was a science student. I picked science A-Levels, I went to university to study geology and only when I was in my 20s did I discover I could be an artist too. I didn’t have to be an amazing artist, but I could use art to create something by me, for me. And I could use it to relax and improve my mental health. Art for mental health is a great tool.


Inga Buividavice, author of Painting Calm: Connect to Nature through the art of Watercolour, has a similar story to mine. The author describes her need to work hard to be creative, and a feeling of being disappointed in her work. Inga describes how when she stopped being so precious about each piece, and avoiding focusing on the finished work, it was a more peaceful process. A process which brought feelings of calm.

Learning to use watercolour
Having recently taken a 6 week watercolour course myself, I found Painting Calm to be an incredible resource to add to my knowledge. With a focus on painting nature, this book encourages the reader to start simple – creating very basic shapes and allowing the watercolours to mingle – this helps keep it an enjoyable process, without any pressure to achieve perfection.

Inga encourages the artist to create your own personal vision and style, by painting with your favourite colours, repeating brush marks you find easy , and to keep experimenting.

Materials

I found it very useful to read all about the materials used in watercolour painting. I think it really helps to understand what you are using to create, as it really can help the process. Inga does this through a series of descriptions and gorgeous watercolour illustrations. In fact, the beautiful artwork throughout this book is one of the biggest sources of inspiration for me. I just love the painting of the pallet above. My class had given me some basics on brushes, but this was the best description I’ve ever found of which brush to use for the desired effect.

Get Painting
Having described the brushes and the paints, we’re ready to get painting. Inga takes us through the process step by step, from pressure to mixing, and the various techniques including wet on dry, wet on wet, and effects such as glazing and pulling. The author talks a lot about colour harmonies, and complementary colours – very important in all types of art. She talks as a human being, instead of someone trying to make art sound like an unattainable achievement. Many artists try and complicate art, to make it seem like an exclusive club, only for the super talented.

This book will also teach you about simple composition, and give you some ideas for projects and creating a sketchbook. Sketchbooks are a wonderful way to keep your art in one place – and they also provide a tool for adding some journaling alongside – if you so wish. Another great tool for mental health.


If you want to truly learn some amazing techniques for painting in watercolour, this is the book I would recommend. It’s simple and easy to follow, and provides techniques for new and established artists alike. I was inspired to paint more after reading this book. One of my early pieces is pictured above.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this review and are inspired to try some art for mental health.

Thanks for reading.

For more on health and wellbeing, you can view my articles here.


I received an e-book copy free of charge from NetGalley, in return for an honest review.

This is a delightful beginners guide to watercolours. I draw quite a lot, but am yet to attempt much painting and find a lot for beginner materials either trite or missing essential steps. This book manages to introduce some really basic beginner details, with instructions on how to progress past the initial stages here

I skipped through the book as I plan on getting a hard copy and going through each exercise!

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

I have purchased multiple watercolor painting books and have yet to find one that is as effective in both teaching techniques and calming the mind as this one! The artwork is truly lovely and will appeal to fans of watercolor painting and those that are looking for mindfulness activities. This is highly recommended.

I really enjoyed looking at the beautiful paintings in this wonderful book, it Inspired me to even try some out for myself! There's many easy to follow tutorials, and I enjoyed learning about different colour and painting techniques I highly recommend if you're new to painting.

As another reviewer said, I came into this book with completely different expectations. Given the title, and the description including things like, "Art therapy and the act of painting is widely acknowledged to bring positive mental health benefits , as it helps us centre ourselves, focus our intentions and engage creatively with the world around us," I had assumed this book was going to be more self-help oriented. Focusing on relieving stress or anxiety through painting. But that's entirely wrong. It's more so the idea that nature is calming, and there are otherwise no discussions of mental health in the book at all. So that was a disappointment for me personally.

That aside, the artwork in this book is beautiful and inspiring. I love the simplistic style, it's definitely something I'd like to try painting more of. The artworks are very calm and relaxing on the eyes, and the subject of nature is almost always one you can lose yourself in. The author starts out explaining a bit about the beauty and wonder of nature, information about watercolors and tools to use with them, a bit on techniques, color, the fundamentals, and then dives into various projects. Most all of which focuses on plants, though there was a page with moths. (No instructions though.)

To note, I am coming into this book as an experienced watercolor painter. I realize this book is for complete beginners, so I'll aim my review more from that perspective. For me personally, I found the book to be more 4/5. It was nice, but I did wish it explored things a little deeper. And I wish the advertising was clearer that this has nothing to do with mental health.

BUT for beginner artists, the target audience, I can see more issues, thus my rating of 3/5 stars.

I agree with what other reviews said about the handwritten font. Most of the text in the book is standard and legible, but very often there are titles or paragraphs in a script-like font that can be so difficult to read. (I had to slow down and zoom in every time, and a couple words took me several seconds to figure out what they were.) I get that it looks pretty, but it's not practical for trying to read instructions. (Not to mention, no idea how people with dyslexia or ESL readers may take to it.)

Quite often, it feels like just one or two tid-bits of information are missing or not as well organized as they could be. While the layouts of the pages with the brushes was pretty, for example, I feel like it would've been better served to have the names + descriptions of each brush next to the image of the brush in question. Or when describing what paper to use, at no point does the author mention that the nicer/higher quality paper is 100% cotton. Certain images from descriptions are missing, or little extra bits of written information feel left out. They're all minor by themselves, but it does feel noticeable the more I read on.

Like the above, when it came to the step-by-step process, I found things to be missing a bit there too. The numbered step instructions don't line up with the visuals shown of the example project. One particular project had three written steps with one picture to go with it, that felt quite complicated for a complete beginner. Most I feel were easy enough to follow along, but it did feel like a little more could've been given to help the target audience of these books. How to use the brush to form certain shapes too, like with the trees, I could imagine that as well being confusing or intimidating for beginners. As a book advertised to those with "no experience", I feel like more could've been done here. In general, several instructions or information felt too vague.

All in all, it's an okay book. If you're attracted to the art style, you'll likely get more out of it. But if you want to learn watercolors, I think there are other better instructional resources out there. Nevertheless, the author is still encouraging and supportive, and I appreciate the idea of 'imperfect perfection'. I guess check out previews and see if this book will be the right fit for you. :)

This book had some good information but the style doesn't really mesh well with my own. I am notably not AT ALL an expert in watercolor painting, but the style of the included works just didn't interest me and I found much less personally useful information than I expected.

A lot of the information is glossed over as well. We are told that "an interesting use of light will bring focus to your subject, creating emotion and adding drama." Which, yes. I agree. However, the following pages didn't really explain how to do that, or even how to tell whether your use of light is 'interesting.'

My other major complaint is that section headings and indeed entire paragraphs of tips and instruction are printed in a handwriting-like font that is very difficult to read.

There are also few images to go with the step-by-step instructions (which are themselves often vague) making it difficult to follow her process.

Mostly, however, my issue is with the style the author subscribes to. I don't particularly like it or find it interesting, and so it is difficult for me to find a lot of useful information in her pages of instruction on how to achieve said style.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Quarto, and Leaping Hare Press for providing an early copy for review.

Ho molto apprezzato questo libro e probabilmente in futuro lo acquisterò cartaceo, perchè ha molti buoni consigli.
C'è ovviamente sempre la solita parte iniziale dove vengono consigliati i materiali e spiegata in breve la ruota dei colori e come scegliere quelli da usare insieme. E' sempre però molto basico.
Questo in parte viene risolto dal posizionare all'inizio di ogni progetto la palette dei colori utilizzati (i nomi dei vari colori usati vengono menzionati nelle didascalie). Infatti le palette scelte da questa artista son probabilmente il motivo per cui mi sono avvicinata ai suoi lavori. Mi piace davvero moltissimo!
C'è una buona scelta di progetti con cui esercitarsi, ma alcuni non mi sono parsi molto interessanti. Forse avrei scelto di creare una scelta di progetti in base alla difficoltà e mostrarne alcuni molto più complessi.
A parte questo è un buon libro e spero di aver la possibilità di acquistarlo presto.

Grazie a Netgalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo in anteprima.

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I really enjoyed this book and will probably buy it in the future in paper copy, because it has a lot of good advice.
There is obviously always the usual initial part where the materials are recommended and the color wheel is briefly explained and also how to choose the ones to use together. However, it is always very basic.
This is partly solved by placing the palette of colors used at the beginning of each project (the names of the various colors used are mentioned in the descriptions). In fact, the palettes chosen by this artist are probably the reason why I approached her works. I really like them very much!
There's a good selection of projects to practice with, but some I didn't find very interesting. Perhaps I would have chosen to create a choice of projects based on difficulty and show some much more complex ones.
Other than that it's a good book and I hope I get the chance to buy it soon.

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read the preview of it.

Really lovely 🌿🌸

About 50% theory, 50% practical.
The art is absolutely beautiful.

It may be different with a physical copy and an actual brush in hand, but I felt I needed more simple step-by-step instructions. Like, really simple lol.. one brush stroke at a time. Still lovely either way.

A beautifully calming book for people new to watercolours. Painting Calm does exactly what it says on the tin as it were, reading this leaves you with great sense of calm and peace - simplified techniques which allow you to dive straight in and start your watercolour journey - I follow Inga’s work on Instagram and am so glad this book is getting the recognition she deserves a wonderful teacher and now author of nonfiction - well done Inga ok this wonderful beginners guide . www.instagram.com/thedeadrosesbookclub

I was fortunate to be able to preview Painting Calm by Inga Buividavice prior to publication. I do love to paint in several different mediums but find myself using watercolor paint often. I do not have any natural born talent and really need to practice and learn techniques to do anything halfway decent, so I jumped at the opportunity to flip through these pages.

Right away, I appreciated the authors take on "style". So many times, I hear professionals stress the importance of finding one's style. I feel pressured to choose and I really like how this author explains that this can often kill creativity because I feel that deeply. I enjoy trying different things and felt this was the first time I was actually encouraged and given permission to do so.

This book reads so easily. This is the result of the beautiful illustrations that represent the materials and techniques the author is detailing. The fonts and writing style are gorgeous to the eye and calming in themselves.

Halfway through the book, the lessons begin. By this point, I had already decided to add this book to my Amazon cart for preorder, so I quickly skimmed through the lessons. I'm pretty sure the section on trees will be the first place I start my Painting Calm practice as the three trees the author details are approachable and gorgeous.

Finally, I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I do and have a feeling it will become a favorite, once in my hands. Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group-Leaping Hare Press and Netgalley for this eARC (all opinions expressed in this review are authentically mine).

This book is a wonderful way to introduce painting. The author does wonderful meeting people where they are through the book. The illustrations are beautiful and the instructions are easy to follow.

I would highly recommend this for any who are interested in learning or relearning watercolor.

Beautiful watercolors. Gives some great basic info and encouraging words on using water color in a way that you want to paint.