Painting Calm is a lovely book. It's both beautiful and useful at the same time. I was captivated by the carefully rendered water color illustrations and the instructions and exercises provided made me feel like I could really paint some of these things. I actually bought a water color journal while reading this book because I was so excited to try out these projects.
At first I wasn’t sure about the book being so focused only on nature since my imagination runs to the more fantastic, but it really fit well. It didn’t feel restrictive as I thought that it might. There was even a section where Buividavice showed circle swatches that looked very much like planets and I loved that. That was the moment I bought the journal so I could try to paint.
The section on watercolor brushes was extremely helpful. I knew there were so many types of brushes but it was really great to see examples of how the different shapes of bristles made different shapes on the pages. It sounds a bit silly to say it out that way, but it was great to be encouraged to play. To just make swatches and understand how to use your tools and not be intimidated by them. I really felt empowered to run out and try watercolor painting.
I’m definitely going to recommend this book as a purchase for the library because I think it’d be a great way for folks to get their feet wet (pardon the pun ;D ) with this art medium.