A Little Bit of Colour

If you want to know why I haven't been as successful with my January plans (more on that later) then this is it. Adult colouring is a fad that has been on the scene for the last year or two. It allows a person to get back in touch with their inner child and it's relaxing. Hands up who remembers spending time colouring as a child and can say it was a positive experience. I bet just about everyone and the only temper tantrums were when a sibling ruins a page by going outside the lines or when the ink pens bled through the paper.

I started off with one book and one small packet of pencils. That one book has grown to three and two postcard sets. I love it and I could (and have) spend hours on it.

I started off with Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford and then quickly added her Secret Garden postcards. I like the fact that the postcards were portable which meant I could colour on my break at work (something I did only once or twice). Basford actually has a blog and she has some videos on there where she gives suggestions on how to colour. I like these books for their fairy tale style.

Next I got a book that appealed to my inner geek, Dr Who. Actually, I picked up this one and the Sherlock Holmes as a gift for my sister. I just happened to order the Dr Who at the same time. I was actually worried that my sister the artist would be insulted by these but she actually loved it. We spent much of Christmas on these and lots of stormy days in too.

While on holiday I got my second set of cards called Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta.  However, I only started using them a few weeks ago. The lines in these are much narrower and so I got myself some Stalibo 88 pens which I felt were find enough for the designs.

Lastly I got myself Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford. I loved drawing ocean scenes when I was little and so this appealed. I haven't actually finished anything in it yet but give it time. I did start some jellyfish (love a jellyfish).

What I also like about them is that they are still open to interpretation. You can see the difference just between my sister and I. Plus if you go onto instagram or pinterest and do a search using the book titles you will come across even more.

You don't even have to have an expensive set of pencils or pens. I originally started with Crayola pencils but moved on to Derwent when the Crayola's began breaking through being carted around so much. I have also begun collecting the Faber pencils which you can buy loose. Expensive but they offer a greater range of colour choices. The Stalibo 88 I have always liked and have often bought them for my sister.

If you want to have a go yourself there are lots of resources online. You don't have to purchase the books. Crafts Beautiful, the website for the magazine, has some sample pages that you can download and try. I came across those thanks to their twitter account. One of my favourite bloggers is a fashion designer and an illustrator and she has posted some of her own colouring pages too which you are free to print out. Her blog is called The Spinsterhood Diaries and she's one of the few blogs I still follow having come across it on Glipho (before it closed down).