Our first Book of the Week this week definitely isn't one for prim and proper princesses who love gadding around in taffeta ball gowns...

Oh dear, once again it was just TOO TOUGH to pare down our Book of the Week winners to just two....

Now THIS is our type of book! As budding (but strictly amateur) artists, we love joining in with the various Twitter daily and weekly art prompts such as #ShapeChallenge, #Sketch_Dailies, #3yroldscribble and many many others.

It's not always convenient to dive onto the computer to check out what's new - and sometimes it's just nicer to be able to push your abilities in a whole new direction with prompts and project that encourage you to try different techniques and art materials.

Jennifer Orkin Lewis' "Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way" sets you a huge challenge to fill your year with an artistic endeavour per day, breaking the book up into monthly sections encouraging you to explore new mediums and subjects, then drawing straight into the book itself, or stapling in your finished bits of work to build up a truly impressive art journal.

Can you draw something groovy and natural just using a black ink pen?

The book eases you into things by encouraging you to explore simple black ink on a blank page. The first section deals with natural subjects such as a field of sunflowers, a pair of dragonflies, or even a french garden as viewed from above. The way you interpret each prompt is entirely up to you.

All the colours of the rainbow later on in the book!

Later the book encourages you to use colour and ink, watercolours, gouache or acrylics - the list is seemingly endless but as we're talking about a book that's designed to keep you busy and inspired for a whole year, there's a lot to pack in.

Each section tails off with some simple self-assessment questions. Be honest, it'll really pay dividends when you look back at your artistic year

We particularly loved how the book encourages you to be self-critical. Revisit each section as the month comes to a close and say the things you enjoyed, the things you found challenging. Make some notes and then it'll be an amazing thing to refer back to in years to come.

We'd almost encourage you to buy two copies of this - and as your artistic year comes to a close, revisit all the topics in a higgledy-piggledy order to see how you've improved, what you've learned, and how amazing your artistic techniques have become.

"Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way" by Jennifer Orkin Lewis is out now, published by Abrams and Chronicle (Kindly supplied for review).

We're addicts of intricacy. One thing you'll spot in common with all of our book of the week winners is the amazing attention to detail in them. Exactly what you'll find in "Red's Planet" by Eddie Pittman...

It struck me as I was reading this to Charlotte that Louise Bourgeois is just one of those artists whose works surreptitiously work themselves into your subconscious, and whose influence you see in so many of the works of art you love.