Stress-relieving, therapeutic, addicting. Coloring these elaborate patterns and prints actually relaxes me. Once I start on a new print, it's so hard to stop. I just take a break once my hand hurts and get blurry vision altogether, heeheehee! Lately, I found myself going offline and moving away from my laptop and other gadgets longer than usual just to keep coloring. And that's a good thing. Even my girl wants to color with me!
As a kid, I really enjoyed sketching and coloring. I can spend hours drawing houses, flowers, and fashion illustrations. I also had several coloring books and arts and crafts projects to pass the time. I never thought I'd be rekindling a childhood hobby at this age.
So, how did I get into this?
So, how did I get into this?
About three months ago, I saw this pretty IG post from a family friend that piqued my interest. Not long after, I found myself searching and asking for the best-selling Johanna Basford hand-drawn coloring books in every bookstore I enter. Usong-uso ito ngayon and even the leading bookstores don't have enough stocks.
Over a week ago, the girl and I went to SM Megamall and she asked that we drop by the bookstore. I was hoping I'd find something, and luckily, I did!
I found several titles from Powerbooks which got me so excited. Ang hirap pumili with so many titles and designs to choose from! I ended up with these two coloring books for grown-ups.
Aside from stripes, one of my favorite prints is paisley. This purple Paisley Coloring for Artists (PhP475) book immediately caught my eye. The other one is this Art Deco Fashions (PhP219), one of may titles from Creative Haven. I used to sketch clothes as a hobby and this brought back memories.
The Paisley coloring book has 46 prints, and the first few pages explained the history of the pattern. plus a colored print of each design as reference. At the end of the book, there are also blank color bars for the user to experiment with color combinations and palettes. I love the paper quality of this book as well.
All the pages have perforations so I can tear it out individually and can have the pages framed if I want to.
This one is a work in progress, using my Dong-A metallic gel pens. I'm finishing all the prints with gold first. The lines are too small and too tight, so there lies the challenge.
Just a few of what I've finished from the Paisley coloring book. This was the first print I posted on Instagram and some friends saw it, asked about it and got interested too.
The girl chose this print (below) to color with me. She even told me this is a great bonding activity! She's the one who picked the color combination and told me which print will be colored what.
Girl: This is hard! And may hand hurts!
She just colored the bigger blue circles and nag-complain na ang magaling na bata! :D I eventually finished this one on my own. In fairness, maganda lumabas yung color combo na pinili ni M.
The Art Deco has 31 designs, with perforated pages too. Paper stock is thinner than the Paisley book so the pen marks at the back of the paper are more visible in this one. But I still love it.
I've finished one page at this time.
For the coloring materials, I am only using familiar bookstore brands like Staedtler and Muji colored pencils, Dong-A gel pens, Crayola and Maped felt-tip markers. I have not (yet) succumbed to buying the professional or artist-preferred brands like Prisma and Zig.
I plan to get mandala prints next and maybe the Posh Coloring Book with Japanese Design, if they're still available on my next visit. Meanwhile, my friend in Canada sent me these shots from a bookstore over there and said she thought of me when she saw these. Naturally, I drooled over the stacks of titles they have, including the Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford!
"Colouring lights up your brain."
Warning: Coloring can cause pain.
Hehehehe... sakit sa kamay, sakit sa mata, sakit sa ulo minsan (dahil lola nako and malabo na mata ko)! =) Mahirap din to pick the right colors for the each design, ha. But don't get me wrong, the coloring process is very calming, and once I start, it's hard for me to stop (until my hand hurts).
Have you been bitten by the coloring bug too?
Go try this yourself and tell me your experience. =)
Update:
Finished paisley pattern (from top photo) carefully lined with metallic pens. Nosebleed ito! =)
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