Expressive Flower Painting

Crazy colourful, all about freedom of expression and being unafraid of difference to the norm, all rules go for true expression to shine through.

No limit to your creations, material list that's super simple and cheap to pick up which just shows it's easy to start and from scribbles to paint create your own flowers unique to you.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Published 8 Aug. 2017 by artist author Lynn Whipple and Quarto Publishing, this 128 page book is lavishly photographed and vibrant and just plain exuberant. The first introductory chapter is titled "permission to play". I just love that.

The author's style isn't condescending at all. Many art how-to books in my experience include instructions that start with 'draw a circle' and then, skipping about 42 years of practice, go directly to 'firm up your outline drawing and wind up with a masterpiece.

I'm not daVinci. Anyhow, to make another glaring contrast, this book is different from most all of the other art instruction books in my personal experience.

The author's style is playful and fun. She knows we can succeed once we quit trying to be daVinci and start being ourselves and letting our creativity lead us to our own creations (not someone else's). That was quite profound for me. Plus she quotes probably my favorite living author, Neil Gaiman:

“And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art.” —Neil Gaiman

Beautiful sentiment beautifully expressed. If you have a chance, please go read/watch his moving and profound commencement address from whence came the quote above.

Back to the book. It spends a fair amount of effort preparing the aspiring artist to embrace their creativity and tapping into it and letting it out. She also mentions how freeing and exciting and fun it is getting in touch with our creativity. There is an introduction and discussion of tools and supplies, studio solutions including lighting and ergonomic working spaces and the use of humor as an exercise in opening up our creativity.

There are creativity exercises including concrete advice listed in bullet points for starting and succeeding, choosing music that inspires you (and sometimes dancing is necessary)

The exercises progress from opening yourself up to expression through to finding your voice as an artist and finally learning sharing and finding a community.

I really enjoyed this brightly written book with lovely humorous photographs full of blazing color. Exuberant really is the correct word from cover to cover.

Four stars - there is valuable content here.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

This book is pure fun in big beautiful brash colours. If you are wanting to have a go at art but getting past the blank page is difficult then this book is a great place to start. You can't go wrong. It is almost therapy in art and everyone is welcome. It is a happy book full of basic bold ideas and you will be reaching for your child's crayons before you get to the end.

This book did spark some creativity in me that was doormat for so many months but at the same time I went into this with high expectations. I think that the lessons that were taught in this book were great and one that stuck with me was 'it is just a layer', especially because I really was critical of how I painted or created my art work. I don't think I will be painting like that though, but it has inspired me to try Impressionism. The tips in this book, however were very helpful and I did appreciate that.
In short I do recommend beginners to try this out and you will find that it is very easy to follow and intermediate artist should give this a try to experiment different techniques.

3.5/5

A Colourful and happy book of great flower creations that you can all do with the inspiration of
Lynn Whipple the author of Expressive Flower Painting: Simple Mixed Media Techniques for Bold Beautiful Blooms.
I found this book bright and cheerful throughout. This book had in-depth information, photo's and expansion of Lynn's class called Big Bold Bloom Wild Painting. Which was brilliantly covered on mark making, layering techniques, how to do "spin drawings," colour methods, painted backgrounds, working from life, and how to successfully combine a wide variety of media for the maximum effect.
I found this book no limits to what you can do just start with just a scribble on a piece of paper etc and then create your own fun flower master piece with simple material you may have at home or you can pick up in your local shops.
This book will be used in my art and texture classes with students with Learning difficulties.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this lovely book.

Reviews on Good reads and Amazon UK x

What would you like to splash on canvas? Are you in love with flowers and enjoy time with friends? This reads like a DIY party book - great fun and beautiful photos. Made me happy to read it.

I have always thought that some floral painters take their subject too seriously -this book shatters this belief. I love the suggestions and the step by step approach; the final result is just stunning, fun and individual.
Not really keen on the motivational talk at the start of the book, but really that is just a personal point, others may find it very helpful

Crazy colorful, all about freedom of expression and being unafraid of difference to the norm, all rules go for true expression to shine through.

No limit to your creations, material list that's super simple and cheap to pick up which just shows it's easy to start and from scribbles to paint create your own flowers unique to you.

I loved this book. It's basically a guide to stress-free creativity. Can someone who quotes Neil Gaiman possibnly steer you wrong? (“And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art.” —Neil Gaiman)

Different types of flower painting explained in a single book ..........

Lots of ideas on techniques and easy to follow and learn examples on various styles of bringing out your creativity.