No. Wait. That conveys something entirely different. You may have heard something about the current craze for coloring books designed to appeal to grown-ups.
For example this article right here in About Health (which is a very informative online newsletter, by the way) or this article in flavorwire or mental floss or here or any number of places.
Coloring book are not just a way to recapture your childhood bliss--though there's nothing wrong with that!--there's plenty of evidence to suggest coloring helps reduce stress and boosts creativity and imagination. It's like knitting for those of us who can't be trusted with sharp instruments.
Today's advent calendar is a page from LOVE IS A MANY-COLORED THING, which is the coloring book created by myself and the wonderfully talented Johanna Ollila. The book contains 25 original pieces of Johanna's wonderful drawing accompanied by appropriate excerpts from the referenced works. You can purchase it here or here.
We're going to make this page a free download here--and eventually we might even hold some kind of coloring page gallery or contest. (Although I guess a contest would sort of defeat the relaxation element of the whole project!) Anyway, get out your colored pencils and take the page for a spin!
Thanks, Josh! Johanna, your illustrations are marvelous. I amused myself by trying to guess which story the drawings were from before I read the excerpt. I can practice coloring on this page before I start coloring in my book.
ReplyDeleteI love colouring... I knew it was relaxing, but I started to enjoying it again helping my niece and nephew with their colouring tasks at school. Thank you for the beautiful page! ;)
ReplyDeleteHeh — I loved that mental floss link to "14 Unusual Coloring Books for Adults". :-D
ReplyDeleteI've found out that listening to an audio book while coloring (or drawing coloring sheets!) is a good combination. So, why not combine Lone Star audio version and Lone Star coloring pic? Just saying... :-)
Wishing colorful, relaxing moments inspired by Josh's lovely stories to everyone!
I just received my copy of the book, and it's so very very very wonderful! Made me all teary and happy and smiling to look at moments i love so much captured so lovingly in these drawings. Thank you Johanna and Josh! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to add to my Birthday/Christmas Wishlist! ^_^ Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHaven't received my book yet but it's supposed to be on its way. Love the Lone Star picture. I just finished re-reading it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI loved the knitting comment :lol: I love knitting as well as colouring.
What a great idea. I have the book and plan to purchase a second so I can have one for coloring and one original.
ReplyDeleteI just went ahead and ordered two copies right off the bat. One to fondle and love ( you said they were adult coloring books) and the other to keep clean and pristine. They arrived last Friday.
ReplyDeleteNow I need to order some colored pencils.
I am ready to train my coloring skills. I have my two books, ( we thinking very alike, Haldis), but I have to wait for my ordered pencils. I am looking forward to do this. Thank you both Josh and Johanna for your work!
ReplyDeleteOrdered. I almost didn't make it thru NaNoWriMo this year because I had found a great coloring book and was spending more time on that than on writing (of course, I spend more time on *everything* than I do on writing). And, maybe it's me, but when I click on the page download, I just see a blank gray screen.
ReplyDeleteNever mind. If you're experiencing difficulty in downloading the page, just keep trying. I think I got it around #5.
DeleteThis is beautiful! I can't wait until my copy of the book arrives.
ReplyDeleteIt looks precious. Congratulations on your wonderful collaboration Josh and Johanna!
ReplyDelete