As soon as Flora Bowley and Lynzee Lynx’s “Fresh Paint - Discover Your Unique Creative Style Through 100 Small Mixed-Media Paintings” became available for pre-order in Australia, I jumped online and ordered myself two copies. Because whenever someone publishes your stuff (spoiler alert: one of my paintings made the student gallery pages) you have to give a copy to your Mum. It’s international law or something.

Then I had a lovely email from the Fresh Paint crew offering to send me a free copy and asking if I would help spread the word about this book, which I’m very happy to do following my experience with the online Fresh Paint course. I thought an authentic way to do this would be through a book review as soon as my first copy arrived, which it did this past week. Thank you Flora and Lynx!

Fresh Paint is 128 pages of colour, information and inspiration in a format that seems easy to follow, with digestible chunks. Much like the online experience, Fresh Paint the book is designed as a framework within which you can ‘pick and mix’ elements that interest you in any order, and revisit them as your practice evolves. There are writing prompts with spaces to write in the book if that’s your thing, or you can respond in a journal, or directly onto your pieces.

Something I really enjoyed in the online Fresh Paint course was watching Flora and Lynx creating pieces in their own unique styles, which are quite different to each other’s. Looking through the student galleries in the book, I was struck by how incredibly different each of the student-artist’s works are too. To me this demonstrates just how effective the Fresh Paint approach is in helping a developing artist to find and nurture their own unique visual language, rather than mimicking the teacher’s. This is what I had hoped to get out of the course, and I certainly did.

If you have access to paper, paint, a few basic brushes, pens and pencils, you have the tools you need to ‘do’ Fresh Paint. You don’t need a lot of time to finish 100 pieces in a year, but you do need to be curious, consistent, and persistent. The book gives you all the information you need to get started and refer back to as you go. It’s not a linear, step-by-step set of instructions to get you directly from A to B, but rather a map and compass to guide you as you wander and explore whichever direction takes your fancy. Sometimes making new discoveries, or stumbling on fresh perspectives of familiar landmarks. Sometimes lingering or returning, finding well-worn paths and forgotten tracks that all combine to reveal the hallmarks of your unique creative style.

This book is not for you if you’re seeking ‘how to draw’ or ‘how to paint’ tutorials. But it’s suitable for all levels of ability. It’s also not academic or deeply intellectual (although both authors are grounded in formal art school training) which makes it very accessible. If you’re interested in exploring an intuitive approach to painting, and developing a consistent creative practice, then I think you will find it a valuable book to have on hand. It’s pretty too!

You can order the Fresh Paint book online from Book Depository (Worldwide), Booktopia (Australia), Amazon (US), and signed copies from Flora’s website. I do not receive any payment if you choose to buy a copy. However if you access Flora’s site from one of the links on my page and purchase certain online courses including Fresh Paint, I’ll receive an affiliate fee which helps support my fledgeling art business. Thank you.