Being a graphic designer I would have loved this book, unfortunately for reason I can't explain I was never able to open the book no matter what I tried.

Sorry.

built my confidence and enthusiasm for diving into some new projects. i love to use color when i paint but often lack the confidence to choose wisely. This book was wonderful

I loved this book. It was so beautifully written. Shame there is not more books like this. I would have liked to see a step by step picture of examples of work though.

This was a fun book to read. I learned quite a bit about color mixing using many different mediums such as watercolors, paints, colored papers. I immediately got out my colored pencils and started playing with different combinations. As a crocheter and knitter this information given will really help me find great color combinations.

I am a fairly new person to the ideas of mixing colors but the information was given in straight forward language. I really like the idea of the "mother color" to base a project off of.

This book is all about colorful acrylic, collage and watercolor projects and having fun while learning how to mix colors in beautiful ways. It has a clear introduction to color theory and mixing techniques. I got specially interested about the “mother method” to achieve harmonious color shifts.

I appreciate the uplifting mood this book has. In between projects there are bits of information for artists: talent, failure, flow neuroscience and Lewis’ emotional and inspiring story about her art journey. The dash of humor and playfulness in each lesson matches the vibrant rainbow colors from the projects. My favorite one was “The Classic Schmear”.

I loved everything about this book, I just wished the “mother method” was further explained. There’s only a couple of lines explaining how to create it without process pictures and it can be confusing, specially for beginners. If you like rainbow colored projects and are ready to paint or cut repetitive shapes to create beautiful patterns, this is absolutely for you.

The New Color Mixing Companion is a tutorial instruction guide with exercises to help the student gain facility with and expand their comfort zones in creating and mixing palettes. After many years of sewing and painting, calligraphy and needlework, beading and jewelry making, I've seen in my own artistic endeavors that I go back to the same 'comfortable' palette again and again. One of the reasons that I picked up this book and worked through many of the included exercises is to try to emerge from my comfort zone when picking project colors.

Released 4th Dec 2018 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 160 pages and available in paperback format.

Most art/crafting tutorial books concentrate on the technical and don't venture (much) into the philosophical side of creativity. This book is a joyful and exuberant exception. The author uses personal anecdote and a whimsically encouraging voice to provide profound insights into tapping our innate creativity to produce art.

The author grabbed me from the preface page on. I definitely wasn't expecting that level of emotional engagement and I was honestly moved to drag out my supplies (watercolors in this case) and start right away.

Here's a quote:

Though this book is about color and painting in particular, it’s important to emphasize that creativity includes so much more than just visual art. We need creativity in literally every area of our lives. The basic function of creativity is releasing old solutions and generating new ones. Creativity is at the root of the scientific method, all kinds of technological advances, and every breakthrough, large and small, in every human effort—ranging from parenting to surgery. This book invites you to joyfully welcome and nurture your generative powers. You were born to be creative. It’s one of the most essential human endowments.



There is so much of this book which resonated really deeply with me. The author describes being stressed when buying and subsequently using really expensive professional art supplies for learning and experimenting. I have felt exactly the same so many times, with a nasty little whiny internal voice calculating how much money I'm 'wasting' using up this or that ingredient. Wow, she really 'gets it'.

The exercises cover collage, watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media, but could (and should) be adapted to other media.

I've never considered myself a talented or even competent watercolorist. From the first exercises onward, I exceeded my own expectations and produced painterly results. I couldn't be more pleased with this book. Obviously everyone is different and needs to find instruction and methods which work for them... but this one definitely worked for me.

Five stars, really worthwhile book.

So, I follow Josie Lewis on Instagram and she is amazingggg. I love her tutorials and how colorful her art is, so I KNEW I had to read this. I had huge expectations and the book didn't disappoint me.
This book has lots of tutorials about painting, collage, etc. It has many instructions too. I tried one of the exercises and it turned out really well.!!! An easy to follow book, perfect for beginners :).

Josie Lewis’ bright and exciting color palettes are a visual enchantment. My personal artistic medium is not paint, but fiber, but Lewis’ techniques for color exploration are very translatable across media, and I had a lot of fun playing with some of the projects she designed for collage. Fair Isle swatches of color wheels are nothing very new, but her explorations of value gradients are must do’s for beginning color-workers in knitting. Chevron Spectrums that looked like Bhutanese temple flags reminded me of a dormant project that I had started and put aside to replicate that same feeling. I also did some entrelac swatching inspired by the Flat Diamond project.
I look forward to more work with these exercises, particularly an exploration of neutrals using the strategy outlined in Antagonistic Complements.
Many thanks to Josie Lewis, and the Quarto Publishing Group for providing an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A fun book for playing in art and getting your creative mojo going. The author provides links to fun templates you can print out from her blog too, for fun projects and experiments.

Wonderful book on colours, ideas on mixing, colouring, painting, collages, step by step procedures, lots of exercises. It is a visual treat.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

The review is also posted here: http://craftytuts.com/the-new-color-mixing-companion-book-review/

The New Color Mixing Companion is a modern, hands-on guide to working with color featuring approachable projects that each explore a different aspect of color mixing.

This book is so full of information! Just a quick look over the table of contents is enough to excite me about all that I am about to learn.

Although I received an unfinished preview of this book, which means, that final revision could have been made.

So let’s take a look at that promising list of what is included in this colorful book:
An introduction to color
Main color techniques
Studio supplies
Why I paint: My story
Starter projects
Glorious extravagance
Mini Mono
Flow: Not Just for Hippies
Collage Rainbow Wheel
The Classic Schmear
Flow Neuroscience: Turning Off
Value Gradient Primer
Tri Me
Loose Brain Mojo
The Freud
What Happens If
Whipped Rainbow
Q*bert
Failure
Bring Out Your Dead
Dots
Art Scars
Next Step Projects
Chevron Expectrum
Talet Doesn’t Exist
Waiting For The Diamond
Flat Diamond
Seed Of Life
Developing Your Fist
Diamond Crystals
Hex Addict
Mandala Hex
Hex Appeal
Sashiko
Enemies of Flow
Radiating Diamonds
Antagonistic Complements
Faded Hex
More Enemies Of Flow
Working With Neutrals
Final Thoughts: Painting Heaven
Practical Considerations For Sharing Your Work
Templates
Thanks
Credits
Resources

More about: The New Color Mixing Companion Book
If you’ve been following my blog, you might know that I am just a beginner when it comes to painting, but I am eagerly learning, little by little, and thanks to resources like this, I can take my own time to do so.

As most painting books, this also has an introduction to color, using the color wheel and choosing colors that complement each other.

The author then proceeds to share studio supplies. And I have to say that I love her approach. She writes that her golden rule of studio supplies is “to start cheap”. So many authors stress the importance of supplies of professional quality, and although I agree that artist quality and student quality have a great difference; but it can be quite intimidating for a beginner to be told that the most expensive supplies are the way to go.

Following the general introduction about studio supplies, you will then find more specific information about each kind of materials the author uses in the projects presented in this book.

Acrylic Paints, collage paper and glue, watercolors, brushes, and palettes.

Before she starts sharing a wide variety of projects, the author writes about a very personal story about why she paints.

And finally, you’ll reach the starter projects!
A total of 17 starter projects, most of them extremely colorful, and a few monochrome projects as well. All of them designed for beginner artists to moderate skill levels required, but designed for beginners to start gaining new skills.

All of the projects list the skill level required (or suggested) to create the piece, the skills you will learn by following the instructions, materials needed, time to complete, and even the “mess level”.

From projects that will take 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, and a few labeled “who knows”. Certainly, there is plenty to choose from.

My favorite projects are the watercolor ones, and although I find all of the beautiful, there is something about the watercolors that just sparks my inspiration.

The “Next Step Projects” follows, and they require medium skills.
Some of these projects take longer to finish, from 60 minutes to 2-3 hours and more. One project indicates it could take a week to finish.

After all the projects you’ll find a set of templates. Line guides to trace or copy to create the projects presented in this book.

And finally, a small list of resources is presented.

Overall I really liked this book. As a beginner is nice to have guidelines or ideas to start painting and creating.

Although my goal is to someday paint directly from my own imagination, I find resources like these very valuable, as they help me with the practice I need to get started. By following the projects I am able to experimental techniques and new materials, but with a project in mind, allowing me to have a final piece of art to be proud of, and to keep a visual proof of my evolution and progress.

This is just a fantastically creative collection of cool projects. If you want a book that describes color theory simply and interestingly then I would highly recommended this read.

Thanks to #NetGalley, I had an advanced PDF to read and review.

*All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review. *

The New Color Mixing Companion is the perfect book for those of us who want to learn how to mix and use colors in ways that are fresh, exciting and challenging. This may mean throwing away some of your preconceived notions about how to mix colors, or how to look at color or learn a new technique or skill. As a beginner I was able to lose most of my hesitancy after a few exercises and found it liberating and enjoyable.

This book is funny I usually don't laugh aloud when using my art books, but I chuckled and guffawed all through the book. The book itself is beautiful, just gorgeous to look at. This is my favorite art book I own.

Thank you Josie Lewis for this fabulous, gorgeous and generous book. I know that I will using it a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this ARC for an honest opinion.

A great resource for getting inspired and using that inspiration especially if you're wanting to work with color.

does have some really interesting projects. more on the geometric side if you don't always like the landscape examples in other books. does give templates for many of the works - painting ones not for the collage ones.

Thank you Quatro Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book and learning lots of ideas and tips about colour and how to use it,. As a beginner level dabbler it was fabulous and encourages me to try different techniques and ideas.

Reading this author is like listening to a friend. The book flows easily and is full of interesting ideas to explore color. I’m primarily into acrylic painting and found useful information to explore complimentary colors using the mother method. I enjoyed the author relating how meaningful painting has been to help overcome personal tragedy.

A really enjoyable and informative book! Perfect for a beginner, or for a more experienced artist who wants to refresh their color skills. The introduction includes color theory and techniques, and a guide to materials used for the projects in the book, with templates for the projects in the back of book. The bulk of the text is projects, ranging from beginner to advanced, that allow the reader to explore color in a number of ways, using watercolors, acrylics, and paper. You'll definitely end up with some lovely artwork after playing with these projects! Sprinkled throughout the text are little side stories- autobiographical moments, inspirational stories, tips on how to find your style, etc. I really liked the tone of this book- turn off that inner voice that tells you you're not an artist, and turn on your flow.

If you are looking for a book that is all text and talks and talks about color, then this is not the book for you. The New Color Mixing Companion is chock full of exercises or projects for the beginner and for those with moderate skills. The media used include acrylics, watercolors and paper but you could apply many of the techniques to different media. There is a lot of eye candy to see here, practically on every page! Josie Lewis is a very talented and accomplished artist who encourages and inspires at every step on your creative journey.

The book begins with the color wheel, supplies and goes on from there to discuss standard or more traditional topics like value, saturation, gradients, etc. The exercises, roughly split between beginner and intermediate, explore many different techniques to mix colors and create palettes. My favorite was the overlapping diamonds/triangles made with watercolors — in fact, I would frame the example of this technique in a heartbeat! Just beautiful. In fact, so many of the techniques she employs create stunning pictures.

But the bonus part of this book, beyond the different techniques, are the brief essays discussing topics of relevance for any artist, including talent, flow and creativity, artscars, and failure. Lewis has important lessons to impart and also illustrates many with anecdotes and personal stories. Her motivation to paint and create was emotional and touching to say the least.

Lewis supplies all the templates to use in many of the exercises so you have no excuse not to create. She also discusses perfection and procrastination, explaining how they work hand-in-hand. So there are no reasons not to get started having fun with these projects and learning about mixing colors and creating palettes.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Quarry Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

While not a painter myself, I found this book inspirational for other projects, including my craft of choice, embroidery. The projects and the photographs gave me several ideas for personal projects and the templates in the back of the book provide a nice guide to implement the books projects. I would recommend this book to crafters of any ilk including quilters, painters, sewers, etc.