On occasion, while teaching a class of adults, I would arrive with colored pencils, crayons, construction paper, scissors, glue, sparkles and assorted craft supplies. It was playtime.
Some members would express glee while others mumbled, “I can’t draw.”
“You don’t have to draw,” I would explain. “You just make something … anything.”
Recently there was an article about the “new rage” of adult coloring books. In my college days, art teachers frowned on the use of pre-designed coloring books, believing they limited artistic expression. However, these days the thought of mindlessly coloring in a coloring book left me dizzy with desire.
The first store I approached had no coloring books. At Hobby Lobby I timidly asked, “Do you have any adult coloring books?”
I was reluctant to ask because, for one, I was an adult asking for a coloring book, and second, in today’s world you can’t always be sure what you’ll get if you ask for “adult” anything.
A nice man said, “Certainly, follow me,” and I did.
There was a complete section of adult coloring books, so many in fact it was hard to decide. For myself I picked out an “Art Nouveau” design. Mixing and matching unusual color patterns was appealing.
Next, I picked out coloring books for family and friends who I thought might also enjoy the art of coloring.
For Sister, I picked out seascapes. She had recently returned from the beach where she loves to vacation. Perhaps coloring seashells and starfish would delight her all winter. She wrote back, “I love the coloring book! It’s a great alternative to puzzles.”
For another, an artist friend, I chose vintage fans. “The designs are intricate,” she said, and “I have secretly enjoyed finding tiny mistakes where a design is supposed to be symmetrical but it’s not. It tells me that an artist drew the designs and it’s not just an electronically generated one.”
And for another, I selected the “Calming Coloring Book.” Each coloring book was accompanied by a set of 18 bi-colored pencils — 36 colors.
Coloring is mood-lifting and relaxing. There’s no right or wrong way to do it; it’s all up to you. It’s totally absorbing, so the day’s activities and concerns, along with troubling world events, slip away as you envision your coloring page progressing, selecting color combinations and honing your fine motor skills.
Coloring is also pleasurable, engaging, simple, quiet and meditative, and at the end of the page you have a sense of accomplishment. Like the artist friend who reported back, “I’ve finished two pages already.”
My coloring book and pencils sit just to the left of my computer. While I’m waiting for the computer to boot-up I color. Most nights I allow myself 30 minutes to color. I can see myself one day having a whole collection of coloring books I colored myself.
Ann Voskamp reported on her blog that four coloring books are in the Top Ten at Amazon. Coloring is not like mindless doodling; coloring is thoughtful and beautiful.
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