The books has a lot of information. And very detailed written steps following the steps for painting nature inspired pieces. I think it would be good for an advanced beginner or someone who isnt a visual learner. There isn't a lot of steps on how to "draw" the shapes they just kinda get described in writing and there are very few picture steps. I would have loved to see a few more pictures showing the process. However I'm just starting watercolor so maybe it's hard to get super detailed step by step images.

This was a very thorough and detailed book for anyone beginning in watercolor, while also including helpful information for those already interested and familiar with the basics. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Wild Watercolor is a tutorial and style guide for watercolor by Karen Elaine. Due out 16th Sept 2025 from Penguin Random House on their Zeitgeist imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The author has an inviting, calm, and encouraging style of writing. She explains a bit of her own background with a short artist's statement. The brief introduction includes illustrated lists of tools and supplies and some basic techniques for getting paint onto paper, for sketching, for selecting subjects and other useful information for beginning painters. Especially salient tips and info are written into highlighted text boxes which are easy to find and remember. The book itself is set up as a weekly tutorial course with guided techniques grouped by level: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Each of the tutorials includes specific step by step color photos and process illustrations with instructions for color choice, brushes, and special techniques used. Most of the tutorials cover several pages and are simple enough to give beginning watercolorists confidence by rendering them as illustrated.

This is a very pretty book with a lot of useful information and tips for rendering natural subjects with watercolor. It would make an excellent choice for self-study or for public or school library acquisition.

Five stars.

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