This is a great "hands on" book, with lots of detailed illustrative photos to help guide the reader through the various techniques.
Ana Victoria Calderón begins with an exploration of the basic tools and techniques used throughout the book, pitched at a level suitable for both absolute beginners and experienced amateur artists looking to broaden their skill-base. The section on experimentation with different media (including several household substances) was particularly well-illustrated and valuable, as testing the various effects is an essential part of producing watercolour art.
The remainder of the book is dedicated to chapters focussed around achieving particular effects - horizons, celestial skies, gems & crystals, and earth & sacred geometry (including botanicals). Using these techniques, an aspiring amateur artist will be able to progress a long way in creating landscape and still life pieces. Several templates are included at the end of the book for use as a reference point, although the author does emphasise the importance of an artist developing and practising their own drawing style.
In the course of reading Creative Watercolour and Mixed Media for review, my 11-year-old daughter and I worked through several of the techniques outlined, using our own materials. We both found the step-by-step style of the book really helpful in developing some new skills and finding inspiration for future artistic work. My daughter was particularly taken with the "celestial skies" project, while I'm working on incorporating some Aurora Australis images into Christmas cards, employing the "contstellations and cosmic textures" techniques using salt and gouache with watercolour.
This book was a joy to read and review, and I will be obtaining my own copy in the very near future. My thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group USA / Quarry Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.