Reviewed by annieb123 on
DIY Watercolor Flowers is a tutorial guide to watercolor floral painting for beginners or artists who want to increase their facility with the medium.
Due out 30th April 2019 from SewandSo, it's 160 pages and available in paperback format. Author Marie Boudon is a self taught artist/educator with an engineering background.
The cover art is indicative of the whimsical stylized flowers and plants included in the book. The use of color and the ways the author puts together the tutorial compositions are very appealing. This guide presupposes no prior expertise; even beginners will find enough instruction in the introductory chapter sections (~25% of the page content) to source materials and gain enough familiarity with the tools to progress through the remainder.
The main tutorials are grouped into a directory of plants (roses, peonies, dahlias, foliage, etc) and then 7 specific projects which include referenced pages to the plants used in the project along with palette and colorway instruction. The page references are a brilliant little feature that really save time when flipping back and forth to find step by step instructions.
The projects are appealing, charming, and simple. They will make lovely cards and diary/journal enhancements.
Beautifully presented and executed.
Five stars; I'll definitely be dragging my watercolors out this weekend.
Possibly worth noting: The book was published in French in 2018 as Fleurs à l’aquarelle : Une initiation. I did not see any translation credits in my eARC, but the translation work is seamlessly expert and it doesn't read as though it's been translated.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 14 April, 2019: Reviewed