This is an appealing all-ages accessible guided instruction book for transferring and painting designs onto stone surfaces (it would work on many surfaces other than rock also). The book has a very useful and graphically appealing gallery style table of contents showing each of the tutorial projects in color. They are grouped by category: mandala inspired projects, and nature inspired objects. The introduction covers tools and supplies (including making one's own dotting tools), sourcing stones, transferring designs, and a little bit of color theory.
Each of the tutorials contains a color photo of the finished object, tools and supplies in a bullet point list, followed by step by step instructions (including color process photos). The designs are very pretty and varied; there are both naturalistic and stylized flowers and animals along with the circular designs.
There's enough inspiration here to keep crafters experimenting for ages. This would make a great selection for a family activity or library group (when we're allowed to congregate again) as well as solo-mindfulness exercise. I also liked the creative philosophy of the book - the author emphasizes the meditative and mindfulness of painting and art without being strident or preachy. It's a well written book full of lovely things to paint. These would make great gifts, garden decor, or inspiration stones to release back into the wild. I believe I'm going to paint some to leave on friends' and neighbors' porches until we can safely gather together again.
Five stars. There really are quite a number of these which have my fingers itching to paint.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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