Just Add Watercolor By Helen Birch

 Just Add Watercolor: Inspiration & Painting Techniques From Contemporary Artists by Helen Birch is a tiny tome packed with gorgeous images and truly is a source of inspiration for artists of any level of experience.

I was so excited by the techniques explored in this book.  There are several sections devoted to different types of painting mediums including traditional watercolor, gouache, digital, mixed media, other water based media and non-paper media.  Each section provided detailed descriptions of the techniques used to achieve the artwork pictured along with a full page image created by a contemporary artist.

Some books of this type seem to tell you how to paint or describe "the best way" to paint.  They suffer from a "look what I can do" mentality.  I found nothing in this book except encouragement and inspiration to try my hand at some of the techniques pictured.  Ms. Birch highlights some amazing artists, and has a knack for showcasing their work in an approachable way.  I found this book delightful, and couldn't wait to put brush to paper (or in my case cardboard since I was amazed by the artists working on non-traditional papers and mediums).  Although my work can't hold a candle to the artwork pictured in this lovely little book, I still had a wonderful time creating it.

Thank you to the folks at Blogging For Books for providing me with this book for review purposes.  I think it would make fantastic gift for an aspiring artist and I encourage you to follow Helen Birch's art blog drawdrawdraw where she explores all types of art and artists.