I loved this so much!
As someone who doesn’t consider themselves artistic (but wishes to be!) picking up a book of art-based exercises can be daunting.
But Art for Self-Care erased any anxiety or doubt about my artistic ability and gave me the tools to explore and process my emotions.
A wonderful gift!

My thanks to NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group and Jessica Swift for my digital ARC in exchange for these honest thoughts.

I really enjoyed this one. I love doing art as part of my self-care rituals, but sometimes it's stressful trying to decide what to do. The prompts in this book take out a lot of that stress for me! I also like that there are different mediums and techniques covered, so everyone can find what works for them.

This is beautifully illustrated and would make a great gift for both artists and non artists!

As an artist and mom, I have learned how important it is to incorporate creating art into my self-care routine. Often, if I am busy with the kids or tired, I have pushed art making onto the back burner. But this book beautifully shows readers how to incorporate it into life more often. It gives the reader so much inspiration and prompting quotes to think about. It really helps me take some of the self-imposed stress out of creating, and focus on creating to help myself work through different emotions. I love it so much! It would make a great gift for the creative people in your life.

Creative friends- go buy this!

This book is a beautiful, moving impactful example of how to make a "how to" esque book elevated to the next level. The author shares personal details about her life and the text is truly some of the best I've ever read in an art book. It is perfect for someone who is perhaps brand new to experimenting creatively or a seasoned artist alike.

You can take it a bit at a time or dive fully in-whatever strikes your fancy. I will be buying a hard copy for my personal use and suggest anyone interested in making art or just as a personal practice explore it as well. Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry, Quarry Books for allowing me to view an e-arc!

A gorgeous guide for the use of art in self care and emotional healing filled with examples and instruction by Jessica Swift. The style is very lovely and approachable. Highly recommend.

"Art for Self-Care" by Jessica Swift is a great book for anyone who is looking for a creative way to process emotions and experiences. Swift's three-part process for using art to heal is easy to follow, and the book includes a variety of prompts and exercises to help you get started. If you're looking for a way to connect with your intuition and begin to change your life, this would be a good book to check out.

This is a really lovely book, it would make a great gift for someone eager to get back into art or for someone new to using art for well-being. I enjoyed the prompts, but I would have liked a few more suggested themes or little challenges. Overall, a nice sized, beautifully illustrated little book.

This was a great jumping off point into the purpose and practice of art journaling. It didn’t necessarily reveal anything new or revolutionary, but even flipping through the pages and looking at pictures inspired me to try it— and that’s pretty much the whole point. It’s hard to instruct on something like this, but it’s enough to read that it’s a valid way of expressing yourself and that there’s no one right way to do it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

**Important note below.
A solid 4*! I'm not sure why I enjoyed this so much and my reason for liking it is probably why others might not: her approach is very flexible, full of ideas, with no rules per se.

The big positive is the same as the negative for this book - it's so personal! I think that it suffers from not having a variety of art styles and examples, because if you hate "instagrammy" images, you might want to skip this; then again, I usually don't like them yet it didn't bother me, because Swift's writing voice was authentic and her life's challenges were real.
**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, I received access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm very enthusiastic about creativity as a self-care strategy. This book by Jessica Swift showcases how to use art as a tool for calming one's mind and cheering oneself on. I strongly appreciate that this book is rooted in author's very personal experiences, however for me it felt more like a manual how to create the art in the style of Jessica Swift, which is very distinct. For me there was too little encouragement to explore one's individual path, and too many examples of how the author approaches her own creative prompts.

A mini pep talk for the artist, this book is both beautiful and comforting.

Honor yourself, keep showing up, trust yourself, you are magic. Great reminders for the creative.

Thank you Netgalley for this gorgeous book.

A gorgeous colourful and uplifting book. Immediately made me want to start playing around with procreate on my tablet! The author is open and honest and I’m excited to try the exercises in this book. As someone who loves to create but doesn’t always manage to find the time, Jessica’s book has really inspired me to take the time to be make art and I love seeing all her great examples in this book. I am looking forward to buying a hard copy of Art for Self Care.

Art for Self Care by Jessica Swift is a lovely book that walks you through how using art can be a form of self care by stopping and looking inward to help yourself heal.

I found the book interesting and informative. The author sounds like she is passionate about self care and helping people though the medium of art.

Thanks to Net galley and Quatro for the ARC Copy of the book.

A self-help book with the intention to help you find your inner voice, listen to it, and express what its trying to tell you. While inspirational, I do wish this was formatted in a way that allowed for quick reference to look back on when that motivation is really needed; currently its extremely wordy and lacks proper hierarchy for the type of information its trying to provide.

This is a lovely guide to art for self-care. It's a guide to how you can't do art wrong when it's the best method of self-expression for yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of “Art for Self Care” by Jessica Swift. All opinions are my own.

What a lovely book. I have recently been re-connecting with my artistic roots from when I was a child as a way of healing and recovering. This book came at the perfect time. The author provided some helpful tips on materials and tools, and how to get started. I loved the section on listening to your inner voice.

Art for Self Care is a very beautiful book and packed full of inspiring exercises and examples of art by the author.
Jessica Swift guides the reader through supplies and techniques which range from collage right through pencil to digital.
Prompts and ideas are generously scattered throughout the book and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that ‘yes, I can do this!’

Too woo-woo for me, but good for more spiritual types who lean into “live laugh love” positivity. The art would make for an engaging activity with children.

I really love this book, its message and the way it is laid out. It's not a step by step instructional manual, about which the author is really clear right from the start -- it feels more like a call, not to action but to digging in and doing the work of acceptance, self-care, honouring ourselves. It's inspirational without being preachy, and accessible to people who aren't even kind of artists (like me).

I loved the artist's use of color, and the visual prompts were inspiring. I like the gentle guidance and appreciate that the prompts are simplistic enough for beginners. I found it less attractive as a self-care guide, but I could see that some may find it helpful. It wasn't the vibe I look for in art books/guides, but I still loved the use of color and look forward to trying some of the prompts, but it wasn't for me as a read.