This is not a book to win a juried competition for producing the "Great Masterpiece". The author shows you how to get out of the studio and carry a field kit to hard-to-reach geographical places. She also shows simple methods for extending watercolor with other media -- such as adding detail with ink pen or graphite. It's a reference book, not necessarily one you read page-by-page, beginning to end.Most artist who do field work "en plein-air" will carry about 20 to 40 pounds of studio equipment from the trunk of their car to a scenic landscape site. Claudia shows how to sew an apron that rolls up into a 2-pound bundle of 2 pencils, 2 ink-pens, 3 sable brushes, and six to twelve colors, with a small water-bottle. It fits in one pocket of your snow-parka for backpacking or horse-back travel. She travels extensively, and get into places most artists never see.The reader should bear in mind that a travel-journal or diary is not the same as framed-fine-art from an indoor studio. Usually, a sketch done 30 minutes before night-fall on a mountain ridge with a pocket-full of art-supplies is not going to be as fully worked as an oil-painted canvass done in-studio. It's not art you do from an easel, it's art you do on your knee with minimal technique. Her field kit weights 2 pounds; mine weights about 8 pounds.Years past, if I remember correctly, the author used to explore wilderness areas on horseback, and assist in search-and-rescue for lost hikers and got into rarely seen landscapes with her art-kit, due to its light-weight. Her techniques are adapted easy transport, quick use, and adaptability to a wider variety of subjects (examples include portraits of people from different cultures, animals wild & domestic, farms, landscapes, botanical specimens, garden planning, and so on).I recommend the book for explorers, archaeologists, birders, writers, wild-life observers who need to keep a visual record of their travels. Watercolor is possibly them most portable, and adaptable media for travelers and explorers who believe the camera doesn't do it all. Claudia Nice is possible the first writer to show how to take the first step. She has about 12 books in print; at various times, she was on contract as an artist with various corporations to produce illustrations for their products as well as fine-art to hang in their entrance lobbies. She has also been on retainer as instructor for manufacturers on how to use their products (ink pens).About mixing other media with watercolor, the materials she uses are the same as those used by famous masters from Art-History to extend their watercolors -- this got them barred from some respected art competitions, but they produced some exemplary art-work by combining watercolors with other media. This includes Van Gogh, delaCroix, Degas, and several others. They often added lines from ink-pens, graphite pencils, charcoal and chalk to their paintings - her mixed media examples differ in style, but she's using the same media as these famous masters used to produce museum-worthy, collector's art.Steve Lee Tomsik, Artist