For in between the bustle and deadlines, here’s a gentle way to take some time out each day to play. Book review: Thinking In Watercolor.

As Jessie states on the very first page:

‘Watercolor is an act of the present.”

How better to navigate the next thirty days than with a guide to revealing your inner artist? With handy tips borne out of experience, useful basic techniques and clearly-explained theory, followed up with step-by-step projects to inspire and develop your paintwork – a month of watercolour practice will have you challenging assumptions and discovering your style.

Personally, I’m grateful for the opportunity to dive in to one of my many paint sets. In the picture above you’ll see, clockwise from right, Deep Deep Light, Daniel Smith and a brand new beautiful tin from Charvin (an irresistible stop on the Paris Love Letters workshop.)

I look forward to experimenting with “50% flood,” transparent layers, imagining utopia and perhaps even a self-portrait. How about you? What might you attempt if no one’s watching?!

Seeing how Jessie combines paper and ink into three-dimensional forms makes me swoon. Have a look at her professional/commissioned work here.

Thinking In Watercolor: A Daily Practice to Unlock Your Creativity & Discover Your Inner Artist, by Jessie Kanelos Weiner, published by Artisan, an imprint of Workman Publishing, a division of Hachette.

Click here to purchase your copy of Thinking In Watercolor with 10% off, from Golden Hare Books, using code bookbinderbookreview53 valid until the end of January 2026.

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