Colours of Art takes the reader on a journey through history via 80 carefully curated artworks and their palettes. For these pieces, colour is not only a tool (like a paintbrush or a canvas) but the fundamental secret to their success. Colour allows artists to express their individuality, evoke certain moods and portray positive or negative subliminal messages. And throughout history the greatest of artists have experimented with new pigments and new technologies to lead movements and deliver masterpieces. But as something so cardinal, we sometimes forget how poignant colour palettes can be, and how much they can tell us. When Vermeer painted The Milkmaid, the amount of ultramarine he could use was written in the contract. How did that affect how he used it? When Turner experimented with Indian Yellow, he captured roaring flames that brought his paintings to life. If he had used a more ordinary yellow, would he have created something so extraordinary? And how did Warhol throw away the rulebook to change what colour could achieve? Structured chronologically, Colours of Art provides a fun, intelligent and visually engaging look at the greatest artistic palettes in art history - from Rafael's use of perspective and Vermeer's ultramarine, to Andy Warhol's hot pinks and Lisa Brice's blue women. Colours of Art offers a refreshing take on the subject and acts as a primer for artists, designers and art lovers who want to look at art history from a different perspective.

As a highly experienced community midwife and teacher, Bridget Sheeran knows that pregnancy should be a time for vital physical and mental preparation. The body and mind do much of this automatically but there are many ways to support this process, and to resist the day-to-day stresses that can hinder it. Through detailed images for colouring-in, Bridget invites pregnant women to allow their natural curiosity to rise up and lead them to discover how they can help themselves through the process of birth. As women relate to their interpretation of the illustrations, this book can powerfully: Allow them in their own time to focus on their needs in pregnancy, birth and becoming a mother; Motivate them to prepare for birth and the responsibility of caring for a newborn; Enable personal well-being through relieving stress via the 'right brain' activity of colouring-in; Motivate women to evaluate their personal resources and find the support structures they will need to do the most important job in the world: give birth and nurture their baby.