• Clear, step‑by‑step drawing tutorials for leaves, flowers, berries, plants and more broken down into simple, approachable stages.  
• Seasonal projects inspired by spring, summer, autumn and winter plants, encouraging you to work in rhythm with the natural year. 
• Guidance on materials and techniques, including coloured pencils and alcohol‑based markers, blending, shading and colour theory. 
• Plant studies enriched with lore and botanical facts, deepening your connection to each subject as you draw it. 
• Creative mindfulness prompts and observation tips to help you slow down, notice more and enjoy the process as much as the result. 

Beginning with the essentials, the book builds skills gradually and encouragingly, making it suitable for beginners while still offering depth and inspiration for more experienced artists. Whether you draw at your desk, in a sketchbook on walks or from treasured plants at home, Rewild Your Drawing offers a slower, more mindful way to develop your skills.  
 
This is a book for artists, gardeners and nature‑lovers – and anyone looking to discover or rediscover the quiet joy of drawing by hand. 

From coastlines and rivers to lakes and rain, ocean advocate and Blue Health Coach™ Lizzi Larbalestier combines academic research and lived experience to encourage you to discover some of the many ways water heals and how you can connect more deeply with it.  

This photographic-rich book includes: 

Guided practices: breathwork, short meditations, and sensory exercises you can do wherever you are. 
Practical activities: rituals and thought experiments, as well as physical activities such as snorkelling and surfing, to cultivate simple everyday habits and bring blue health into your routine. 
Evidence and explanation: accessible summaries of the latest scientific research on how water improves health.
Eco-centred perspective: reflections on stewardship and how deepening your relationship with water supports planetary as well as personal wellbeing. 
Beautiful imagery: evocative photography and illustrations that make the book a tactile, coffee-table companion as well as a practical guide.

Whether you live by the sea or seek peace of mind in busy urban spaces, The Healing Power of Water offers science-informed tools to reduce anxiety, sharpen attention, restore vitality and cultivate a more fluid way of living. This is the perfect book for wellness readers, mindfulness practitioners and anyone wanting to develop their blue health. 

Let The Healing Power of Water be your invitation to slow down and connect with water, to fall in love with it in the many ways it shows up in your life, and to enhance your mental and physical wellbeing, whilst helping protect the planet’s most vital natural feature.

For more ways to connect with nature, discover other books in the series, The Healing Power of Trees and The Healing Power of Sound.  

With step-by-step guidance, Inga introduces the essential supplies, colour theory  and techniques you’ll need to get started, from washes and glazing to creating texture with salt, dry brush or masking fluid. She then leads you through inspiring projects that explore a wide range of natural and travel subjects, including:

• Water: learn to capture tranquil reflections, rippling movement and the soft transparency of waves using watercolour’s natural fluidity.  
• Mountains: explore light, shadow and rocky textures to create depth and drama in striking mountain scenes.  
• Trees and meadows: practice painting flora, from delicate leaves to lively wildflowers and grasses.  
• Seasons: discover how shifting palettes and moods can bring the atmosphere of each season to life on paper.  
• Travel sketches: try portable, playful approaches to quickly documenting your journeys and everyday surroundings.  

Along the way, you’ll also find advice on composition, drawing  and developing your creative practice, so that your painting becomes not just a skill, but a joyful and mindful habit.  

Illustrated throughout with Inga’s signature gentle style, Painting Landscapes is more than a how-to manual: it’s an invitation to reconnect with nature, nurture your creativity and discover the restorative calm of watercolour. Perfect for anyone drawn to the beauty of the outdoors, this is a guide to return to again and again.  

From Thoreau and Nietzsche to Aristotle, history’s greatest thinkers have long celebrated the healing power of the natural world. But forest bathing is more than just a walk in the woods – it’s the mindful practice of reconnecting with nature through your senses, and The Healing Power of Trees is here to show you how.  

This beautifully crafted guide reveals the unparalleled health benefits of the great outdoors, with the experts at The Forest Bathing Institute leading you on a journey of healing. Recent research shows that just 15 minutes outside can enhance mood, concentration, and physical health – imagine the therapeutic benefits of embracing the increasingly popular practice of forest bathing.  

With practical guidance and advice on addressing key challenges such as:  

• Lifting depression and anxiety
• Lowering stress  
• Improving energy levels  
• Boosting your immune system  

This book is an essential gift or self-purchase for anyone ready to reconnect with nature.  

The Forest Bathing Institute has spent years collaborating with universities and governments to research the benefits of this practice and train practitioners to share them. Now, its founders present their unique method in this stunning guide.  

Packed with expert insights and captivating photography, The Healing Power of Trees not only helps you plan your next forest bathing trip but also brings the restorative power of nature into your home.  

With The Folklore of Birds you can discover the fascinating folklore behind nature’s most intriguing animals.

At once familiar and unknowable, birds have for centuries provided a rich source of speculation and myth-making. From the Catholic belief that barnacle geese were actually fish (and could therefore be eaten on the Sabbath) to the Ancient Greek tale of Ceyx and Halcyone who were transformed into kingfishers after death as reward for their fidelity, our feathered friends have given rise to an astonishingly rich body of myth, legend and superstition.

With its interesting titbits and curious facts coupled with breathtakingly beautiful illustrations, The Folklore of Birds  is charming, quirky gift  for the birdwatcher in your life.  

Full of essential information and inviting imagery, this accessible guide provides a holistic and ecological approach to gardening and vegetable growing. With a focus on biodiversity, soil health, and the creation of balanced ecosystems,  Nettles and Petals is a must-read for any budding gardener.

Join Social Media Influencer of the Year 2024 Jamie Walton and the  @NettlesAndPetals community on their mission to save the wild plants in our gardens and learn how to begin growing them in your spaces in a practical way.

Dig into must-know topics including:

• Companion planting
• The wonders of nettles and other weeds
• The importance of flowers in the vegetable garden
• Circular and ecological garden planning
• Growing guides for Jamie’s ‘top 30’ vegetables
• Seed saving and sowing
• Urban and small-scale sustainable gardening
• Harvesting, preserving, and sharing produce

An ideal self-purchase or a gift for the green enthusiast in your life, Nettles and Petals is perfect for anyone curious about gardening sustainably.

Through personal anecdote and expert insight,  Claire Thompson of BirdLife International invites us on a mindful journey through gardens, cities, open country, forests, coasts and mountains to enjoy and learn from the magnificent beauty and diversity of the avian world.

Who has never gazed enviously at a bird soaring through the sky? Or delighted in the uplifting tunes of nature’s songsters? Birds can do wonders for our hearts and minds – if we simply pay them attention. With Mindfulness in Bird Watching, Claire Thompson reveals how the practice of mindfulness enriches our bird watching experiences – and explores how birds are, in turn, the ideal inspiration for the practice of mindfulness.

Enjoy the magnificent diversity of colours, songs, flight patterns and behaviours displayed by birds while reaping the benefits of mindfulness:

• Increased concentration
• Increased creativity
• Increased vitality
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Better overall physical and emotional well-being
• Better sleep

Bird flight is a symbol of freedom to soar through life without constraint, and mindfulness similarly enables us to invite freedom and happiness into our own lives.

Find even more ways to practice mindfulness with the Mindfulness series: Mindfulness in Sound, Mindfulness in Drawing, Mindfulness in Knitting, Mindfulness & the Journey of Bereavement, Mindfulness of Work, Art of Mindful Singing, Art of Mindful Crafting, Mindfulness and Compassion, Mindfulness for Black Dogs & Blue Days, Mindfulness for Unraveling Anxiety, Practice of Mindful Yoga, The Mindful Man, Mindfulness and the Natural World and more.

Wild Watercolour starts with an introduction to the basic techniques of watercolour, coaching you for painting success by showing you how to recreate nature’s wildlife and habitats.

Experience how the practical medium of painting in watercolour can connect us to inner and outer nature, and be freeing, joyful and wild! Each step-by-step project introduces a new watercolour technique.

Learn the basics with guided exercises showing you how to depict your favourite animals in watercolour, including:

• Dry brush on wet effect – red pandas
• Wet brush on wet effect – beetles
• Glazing – ladybirds
• Blooms – hare silhouettes
• Pulling technique – frogs
• Watercolour and ink – koi fish
• Using masking tape – snake
• Using different textures – turtles
• Expressive features – flamingos
• Using space – dolphins
• Different brush strokes – chameleons
• Painting patterns – butterflies

With mindful reflections on the  meditative benefits of watercolour, experiment and develop your skills, all whilst taking inspiration from the world around you. Once you’ve learned the power of the paintbrush, let your creativity blossom by stumbling into nature! This stunning project book guides you to become an independent watercolourist, painting what you see when the meditative moment strikes.

Learn the calming art of watercolour, connect with your inner artist and be inspired by the wonderful wildlife all around you. Create a space of mindful calm as you settle down with your brush and paper and learn how watercolour can open up a world of serenity, creativity and appreciation of nature. ]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/floral-folklore/ Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=38418 With Floral Folklore, discover the fascinating stories and traditions behind 40 of nature's most beautiful flowers and learn how you can benefit from their properties.