Member Review

I was so excited to start reading Jessica Swift’s new book and I wasn’t disappointed. This book is all about using art as a form of self care, more specifically by tuning into your intuition and inner self for guidance on how to cope with negative or difficult situations. This guidance is then interpreted and turned into a piece of artwork. Jessica is quick to point out that you absolutely don’t need to be an artist to use this book and I agree - it is the action of making marks on the paper that is therapeutic, not the look of the end result. However, the advice in this book is useful for artists too - being able to tune in to your intuition to discover inspiration will help you to create a much more unique piece of artwork that is infused with your style, rather than doing what many others do which is copy pictures from Unsplash or find inspiration on Pinterest, making their art look eerily like everyone else’s.

The book is split into three sections: ‘Going Inward’ teaches us how to listen to our intuition and gives guidance on interpreting the messages we hear. This part ends with a useful prompts section to help us to get started. ‘Insides Outward’ is where Jessica shows us the different techniques we can use to make our art, covering everything from mixed media, pencil crayons, digital art and different types of paint. She also covers different surfaces and finding inspiration. In ‘Integrating and Honouring’ we are advised on how to set up an art practise, how to keep going, to trust ourselves and our intuition and, most crucially, what to do with out artwork once we have finished it!

Jessica writes with a friendly, encouraging voice and weaves her personal story throughout the book. Her writing is easy to read, uplifting and enjoyable and I really enjoyed my time with this book. I would recommend it to anyone who creates art already or who would like to but thinks they can’t draw. This is different to any other art book I have read and is a very valuable addition to anyone’s collection because it covers dealing with universal issues and emotions through the very accessible medium of art. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and Quarry Books for this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.