Happy Abstracts: Fearless Painting for True Beginners! (Learn to Create Vibrant Canvas Art Stroke-by-Stroke) - Paint Party Level 1

I love this book! I painted two pieces from the book the first day I received it. Can't wait to do more. Great instructions and nice photos.

These were some fun projects to work through. There are six of them and step by step instructions for each with photos provided at each step. They are pretty easy to do. The only issue some people might have is that the projects are fairly expensive because there are so many different paints and materials to buy. She doesn't tell you how to mix colors together, so to buy each color separately can really add up. One thing that was kind of odd is that she doesn't list the colors the way you would buy them. For example, she lists "navy" as one of the colors, but "navy" isn't a paint color. It is odd that she does this, because she does use the actual paint colors in some instances ("ultramarine" and "phthalo green" for example). I can imagine this would be fairly confusing for a beginner. Other than that, it was a really fun book to work through. I wish there were more than six projects or a sequel.

Abstract art is something that differs a lot from person to person, so I think the author isn't super detailed in her instructions for each project so that you can fill in the gaps with your own style and choices. But because of this, rather than a "beginner book," I would classify it more as a "supplementary" book. It doesn't teach you much about painting and developing an abstract style itself, but if you, for example, gave it to someone along with another, more detailed book about fundamentals, than this book would be a great way to test out the basics and try cool, mostly uncomplicated and free-spirited projects. There are good photos and explanations, and her style is very fun and pops. I bought this along with a couple other acrylic painting books so while I didn't learn too much from it, it gave me some good ideas and projects to test out different things with. I guess then, I'd also describe it as an inspiration and project book, rather than a learning book. If you feel "oh, I want to paint but I don't know what" or "abstract is cool but I don't really know how to try doing it" then this book will give you some ideas and ways to have some colorful fun.

I like the artist and I am super happy with the book. I love it to look at. There is not a lot of instruction which I’m fine with. Thinner book than I expected but so colorful and high quality pictures and pages.

this book is fanatastic. It teaches the beautiful brush stroke with easy and understandable directions. In my opinion, it really helps build confidence to a new artist. ALSO YOU CANT BEAT THE PRICE. Whatttt???? You won’t regret it.

I love the look of the ikat pattern that she does so well. I follow her on Instagram and was thrilled when I saw she had just released this book. I immediately bought it!! I am an advanced-beginner, acrylic painter. Unfortunately, the step by step photos are so small that it makes it difficult to see what she is doing in relation to the whole painting. How is the brush being held? One brush she uses is a cat’s tongue but she suggests oval wash, size 18 filbert, size 10 round or size 10 flat. I tried a round and it was not working. Then I looked at the brush in the photo and realized I was using the wrong brush. I tried the painting again with the correct brush and I still could not get it! I feel like a video would be helpful. I finally tried a third time with a small 6” square canvas and just did my own method to try to get the ikat look. It was good but it’s still not perfected. Project 5 has the whole example painting in the small photos but the painting instructions are not as good as in project the 1. In step 1 she mentions a background color and then one color for the first layer. I can clearly see three colors though. The paint colors she says to use are also very vague. A few color examples. Turquoise: I have not yet found a turquoise in the store that is the same color as depicted in the chart. Peach: there is no peach in the paint section, it is actually portrait pink. Fluorescent pink: again there is no paint in the paint section with this name in any brand that was in Dick Blick art supply store. Magenta: did she mean quinacridone magenta because there is no plain magenta in the store? Yes, you can make any color from red, yellow and blue As she shows in a chart but that is also not easy to achieve other colors. It feels as though it was rushed and not enough thought put into this as an instruction book, especially not for true beginners. I feel terrible saying that because I love her and her artwork. I was able to do the one on the cover easily but I really want to do ikat like in the first and 5th projects 😔 I would recommend this book if you love her style and bright colors. If you are a true beginner do not expect this to be “easy”.

this book is filled with helpful and useful information. So many projects and easy to follow instructions.

Love love this creative book. I’m new at paint in general so I loved her step by step instructions which enabled me to make a beautiful painting for the first time. Can’t wait for her second, third, forth etc. book to come out.

Love how easy it is to read, and colorful abstarct pictures to learn how to paint!