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Wildflowers of the West: An Artist's Guide
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 29, 2026
A wonderful mix of watercolor tips, stories from the author's experiences, technique instruction, history and nature writing -- everything wrapped up in one book! I take Molly's Trees and Birds books on summer trips for reference and inspiration, and now the Wildflower book will come along, too. Highly recommended!
May 4, 2026
2.5 stars. The balance is off. Within the introduction, the author jumps into descriptions of different plant families, using terms not included on the quick reference image on the same page. (There is a glossary at the back, but the reader isn't directed there, nor are all the terms included-- for the "banner, wing, and keel petals" (p. 11) seen in the pea family flowers, the first two types appear in the glossary but "keel" is not defined.) In the Artist & Flowers section (p. 17), the author claims plants were not depicted in human art until "10,000 years ago," but documents freely available and quickly found online show research on much older prehistoric art that does include plant themes. This basic error so early calls into question the entire authority of the work.
Once the author starts discussing techniques, it becomes apparent that this is a work for more experienced artists, not for beginners. True beginning artists should have one or more painting resource books ready at hand before starting.
This is very pretty, but it's more a journal than anything else-- not a field guide, not for botanical identification, not for beginning artists, etc. It seems mostly like this book exists because the author already had most of these pieces complete and was looking for a way to make them more profitable, rather than starting with a concept and an understanding of the audience and creating a work to satisfy a need.
Program prompts: watercolor class, then asynchronous outdoor paiting activity; juried art show; linoart or print making; SilverKite access and promo; one-off book club with Wolf Worm
Discussion prompts: none provided
Once the author starts discussing techniques, it becomes apparent that this is a work for more experienced artists, not for beginners. True beginning artists should have one or more painting resource books ready at hand before starting.
This is very pretty, but it's more a journal than anything else-- not a field guide, not for botanical identification, not for beginning artists, etc. It seems mostly like this book exists because the author already had most of these pieces complete and was looking for a way to make them more profitable, rather than starting with a concept and an understanding of the audience and creating a work to satisfy a need.
Program prompts: watercolor class, then asynchronous outdoor paiting activity; juried art show; linoart or print making; SilverKite access and promo; one-off book club with Wolf Worm
Discussion prompts: none provided
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews