Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Painterly Days Watercoloring Book


When Schiffer Publishing offered me a copy of a Painterly Days, I decided it was finally time to try out the coloring craze.  The watercolor part of this is what pushed me over the edge.  Coloring is not my favorite pastime; I find it too slow and too finicky.  But slopping paint around a large area appeals to me, so I thought I'd give it a try.  The books are 9" x 12".

I think I'm hooked!  I'm not an accomplished watercolor painter, but I love the surprise factor of the medium.  Having all the designs pre-drawn allows me to focus on the watercolor, and I'm not worried about ruining a drawing that I've spent hours on.  So I'm having great fun and getting lots of practice mastering a medium that some say is difficult.

There are three versions of the book:  Patterns, Woodlands, and Flowers.  Each book contains 25 double sided patterns, printed in grey on watercolor paper.  The  paper in the book is pretty good if not great; as long as you use lots of water and don't scrub the paper too much there is no issue with pilling. For $25US per book it is good value.  

One of the nice little details that make this book a treat to use is the fold-out front and back covers.  If you wrap these around the pages before and after the page that you're painting, the rest stay nice and clean.

There are also painting and artist tips in the book to go with each page.  As an added bonus, the author, Kristy Rice, has made some You-Tube videos which can function as a watercolor class to go with the book.  I found her instruction very useful and inspiring.

I would definitely recommend this book!

3 comments:

Passionforstamping said...

Sounds like a "must have" book. I will try to find a copy online to buy.

Janice said...

I couldn't get into colouring either....too fiddly as you say. Now this sounds like it might be worth a try!

Linda said...

Thank you so much for recommending this. You have a lovely blog. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. :)