Book Review: Just Add Watercolor

Just Add Watercolor
by Helen Birch

 I don't really know what I expected when I selected this book.  It's a fairly small volume, about 5"x7", hardcovered, with very nice coated pages.  Each page has a contemporary watercolor, with notes about the way the artist created the picture.  I'm not entirely sure what I expected from this book.  Perhaps a little more detail?  This is what the author says in her introduction, in part: "Accompanying each work is a short exploration of the artist's approach and the techniques used, so you can try some of the ideas out too."

Each pair of pages contains a picture to the right, and a paragraph or 2 on the left page briefly discussing what the painting is, and perhaps what the artist intended to create.  Other than the pages about making blooms and similar special effects, there isn't much on how the paintings were created - paper, paint, ink, whatever - in most cases.  It's a pretty little book, and a nice review, but isn't as helpful to the artistic process as I might have hoped.  3/5

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my review.  Opinions are my own.