Book excerpt: Experience wonder and excitement as you mindfully take your painting technique to the next level: It’s Paint Alchemy. Part of the new Alchemy series, Paint Alchemy explores how to build a painting practice. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced painter, you’ll learn how to create freely by combining a foundation in solid techniques and design principles with an open approach that stays focused on the moment, rather than the end result. You will learn how to prepare your art space, work with intention, and move between action and observation, responding to the work along the way. Paint Alchemy will help you cultivate a full perspective on the process: from developing ideas in a sketchbook to crystalizing your vision. As you work through the exercises, you’ll gain a better understanding of color theory, mark making, representational form, abstraction, and composition. Mindfulness, experimentation, and reflection will give way to wonder as your paintings develop.