Watercolor: A New Beginning: A Holistic Approach to Painting

Its no stress but she teaches on every page and its wonderful...complete..nothing here but fun in watercolor while you learn without stress as she says..im so glad i got this treasure..better than some of the newest books out now...

I've been wanting to paint with watercolor but all the books out there does not even describe how difficult the medium is. I'd follow the instruction only to find a dissapointing result that my painting looks nothing like the illustration. More over, many of the equipments (such as paper, brushes, paints) are all way too expensive to allow me for a 'mistake'.Following the instruction in this book, there is no wrong way or result. In fact, it brings the fun back to the art, the main reason why I picked it up in the first place! There's plenty of time and exercises for experimentation and developing a feeling of how the watercolor works, rather than heavy logical technique of mixing colors, brushing strokes, etc. Best of all, this book only require minimum equipment with only 3 brushes and 4 tubes of paints!I highly recommed this book for someone who is a beginner and sensitive about their art, like me. I'd recommend this also for children or adult who have been having a bad experience in painting/drawing in the past. It has surely encouraged me to paint some more, without guilt. A truly enjoyable book!

To anyone with great interest in trying watercolor painting, this is the book I would recommend. No drawing skills needed. It's not about whether or not you believe yourself to have the talent. If you have the desire, dive in and enjoy the journey. I have been painting for more than 10 years and I love this book. I am preparing to teach a watercolor class for beginners, and this is the book I've chosen to guide me. Lindsay expresses a lot of great points that help the reader to drop all that inhibits from the real joy of painting...learning. Even the great painters we ooh and aah at never stop learning as long as they are still alive and painting.

Ann Lindsay's holistic approach to water color has givien me a fresh chance to learn intuitively...and with delight...to adventure into unmapped terrain as a child does...to bypass those voices of fear and doubt...to nurture, to validate, and even to liberate creative impulses never before encountered... Ann Lindsay is a gifted guide and teacher, whose approach has been quite literally life-changing. Her book takes you by the hand and lays out the basic steps with simplicity and ease...no rights or wrongs...just experiments and explorations...followed with gentle, attentive questions about the experience. How did it go? What was fun? What happened that you liked? Or didn't? How did it feel? What did you see? The lessons follow upon one another beautifully, providing just enough structure to get going comfortably...with plenty of room to find one's way...to make wonderful discoveries about the process. This is a guidebook, and its value shines in the doing and in the trying out. Only after the journey had started did I realize how skillfully and sensitively I was being led. As a psychologist, I recognize that her integration of left and right brain processes makes absolute sense...as a spiritual seeker I believe the deep importance of her emphasis on connecting with the inner resource and listening to the voice of the heart...and as a beginning student of watercolor I know that her encouragement and her accompaniment have been just what I needed to break through those mighty barriers of inadequacy and impossibility. Entrusting myself to the processes in which Ann Lindsay invites us to participate continues to be an experience of discovery and joy.

I found this book, and Ann Lindsay's approach to watercolor painting, nothing short of transformative. The book leads you through a fun series of explorations while addressing ways to let go of the kind of negative inner judgment that inhibits so many of us from feeling we can try something new and creative.The "lessons" build on one another introducing techniques in a playful way. For a while you think, "well, this IS a lot of fun, but is it getting me somewhere?" and then suddenly - maybe around lesson 4 or 5 - it is all starts coming together in very exciting ways. The book is beautiful with absolutely clear step by step color illustrations and a wonderful writing style. I was so excited about this book, I gave it to a number of people and they have all also actually used it and become excited about it. Following this technique, I was able to begin painting things in watercolor that I really like in a very short time. I know that Ann Lindsay's approach really allowed me to get beyond the anxiety I had about whether what I was doing was "good enough" so that I could feel free to explore. I can feel the benefits of letting go of that self-judgment spreading into other areas of my life as well. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody. A few of the people I gave it to work with children in schools and have told me that they have been using it in their work with some exciting results. Others I know with varying levels of previous artistic experience have all said they really enjoyed it and found it helpful. So get this book!