Unfurling, A Mixed-Media Workshop with Misty Mawn

Although the author is very well known online, I have to admit that before laying hands on the book I had never heard of her. I will say this - this is another beautiful, beautiful book from the Quarry publishers. Every page is laden down with beautiful images overlaid on a background of texturey, painty goodness - no white pages here. I love the idea of a workshop in book form. I have signed up to so many online classes and am yet to complete a single one. So to have a whole workshop residing within easy reach on my bookshelves, handy to grab a quick read here and there - well that's enticing indeed. However, because the book does encompass so much I think that many people who do art or craft are going to find at least one or two sections of the book a bit irrelevant to them - they will already know certain bits or be further ahead in experience. Most of the explanations are from a beginners perspective. For example, when I started reading, my heart sunk a bit because almost the entire first section; Art, which encompasses drawing, painting and collage... well, I already do most of the techniques set forward. If you've done any drawing for any period of time, or an online class you will have already have had a more comprehensive tutorial than you will get from the opening section here. However - this is just one chapter, it can't hope to compete with a whole online workshop dedicated to one subject. It's meant to stimulate inspiration - which it does. Moving onto sections two and three; Craft and Journal, it's a whole new ball game, at least for me. These sections talk about stamp carving, paper pottery, paper crafts and journal making, photography, poetry... well these things I've dabbled in but have no real knowledge. These sections blew my socks off. Each section comes in the form of exercises that you are encouraged to carry out from sketching to making paper cranes, modeling a clay doll to taking self portraits, writing your own poetry, creating awesome backgrounds, incorporating images into those backgrounds, carving your own stamps... all in a straightforward "you can do this, we can all do this" manner. No shmaltzy, shmaltzy. So - all in all. If you come to this book realizing that probably, a bit of it you are already going to know but embrace the rest, you'll love this book. I do.