Coloring the blues away

[dorinda]

In the last few years before I moved here, I took up a..."hobby" sounds a little too focused, kind of. "Activity", maybe. I found that a good way to relax my brain if I were particularly stressed out, especially if my thoughts were racing around in my head, was to sit down and color in a coloring book, with no words/numbers/other left-brainish-aspects allowed.

I picked up a few coloring books at a used book store, which was great--they were technically pre-owned, but not colored in, and very inexpensive. And sakana17 picked one up for me once when she was abroad, too--so awesome. I love historical ones, and also odd or fantastical animals (dinosaurs, for instance). I use crayons sometimes, which is atavistically satisfying but also messy (have crayons always given off this many crumbs?); colored pencils are a tidier way to go.

I was thinking about this because I haven't unpacked my coloring stuff since I moved, which has been a bit more than three years (!), and thus haven't settled in for a session. But I sure could use one right about now. I'll take a look in the remaining boxes and see if the stuff is easy to get at.

Comments

[marycrawford]

Oh, I really hope you can find them! And I'm pretty sure you hived me, because I have a coloring book I'm working on right now (Secret Garden, it's this: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Inky-Treasure-Coloring/dp/1780671067 ) but I am also racking my brain to figure out what on earth happened to the abstract shapes coloring books I used to own. They were a particular brand with really satisfying fractal-type stuff, and I remember coloring in them when I was ten or so, so they have to be from the '70s or '80s. I rebought them later, and I know I had them in previous house, but WHERE ARE THEY. (In a box...probably?)

The Secret Garden book is fun, but about half the pages have empty spaces with "hints" in them, which I cannot abide, of the "finish this stem with a flower" or "add your own leaves here" variety. But the more detailed drawings-sans-words are great, and I plan to hand the book on to niece when I'm done with those.

[dorinda]

Ooooh, that is very nice. Though I have the terrible feeling I would "finish" the missing flowers with strange things like dragonheads or tentacles.

I wonder if we had the same or similar abstract shape coloring books! I had a couple of those, I think--the time-frame and the fractal nature ring a definite bell. But then maybe that was just a popular coloring book style/genre back then.

[marycrawford]

TENTACLES! DRAGONS! That makes the silly 'hints' stuff MUCH more interesting.

Of course, the downside is that that means drawing rather than mindless coloring. But I'll think about it. :D

I'm pretty sure the lost books were either UK or US in origin, and I am on a google quest trying to find them again. They had good paper, too, with the drawings in a shimmery kind of ink that wasn't pure black.

[marycrawford]

FOUND THEM. Good lord that took forever. And I'm not talking about my copies, just their existence: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Altair-Design-Pattern-Pad-Bk/dp/1907155015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358033058&sr=8-1

No wonder it was hard to google, who calls something like that a "Pattern Pad"? o_O

[dorinda]

YES YES YES YES YESSSS O THOSE WERE THEM.

Oh god I loved those!

Here's a couple pictures I found of the 70s vintage:

book 1: http://cb.pbsstatic.com/l/89/5489/9780394825489.jpg

book 3: http://www.youareelectric.com/2013/04/11/altair-designs/

I don't remember if we had #3, but we definitely had 1, and I think 2 (though I haven't found a picture of 2 yet). I used to color in them using these smallish markers.

And I never heard them called a Pattern Pad, sheesh.

You are a genius for finding them!

[marycrawford]

Those old school covers are so nice, and yet I don't remember them. I bet what I had was a Dutch re-publication with a less flashy cover. Because those were definitely them! I loved them too, they were fab.

[scheherezhad]

There is something soothing about coloring. Once in a while, we have coloring/activity books in the breakroom at work, and it's nice to just sit and fill things in without having to think much.

[dorinda]

Oh, I wish I could do this on work breaks. It really unwinds something inside my head. ...Well, I suppose I technically could, it's not like it's forbidden. Hmm!

[mlyn]

That. is. awesome.

I've never heard of an adult using a coloring book, but why the fuck not? It's artistic, it's meditative, and it's probably soothing purely due to childhood nostalgia. Great idea, I'm glad it works for you.

[dorinda]

Meditative definitely hits it... At the same time I also started occasionally doing some sketching, and while that was enjoyable, it didn't feel as relaxing for the tensest times. I think because I was too able to judge my sketches, and worry about decisions I was making while I was making them, whereas the coloring is more zoned-out (meditative). Picking a color and using it in this spot or that, it doesn't feel like a decision, it just feels like a natural action that I don't have to think or worry about. Like, the Coloring Book Police are not coming. Give that dinosaur some clashing frills!

[mlyn]

You hit on the zoned-out, natural action description for woodcarving in my case. Except when I'm being all judgey of myself and frustrated, and then my instructor is like "IT'S WOODCARVING CALM DOWN."

[luminosity]

I don't color too much anymore, but I was enamored of the Alstair(?) Design Coloring books back in the day. These are close.

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486405664.html
http://www.amazon.com/Diabolically-Detailed-Coloring-Volumes-Art-Filled/dp/1499739516/ref=pd_sim_b_37?ie=UTF8&refRID=191XW896XF3FB900RXQR

Now I am back to drawing everyday, and I catch myself doodling a lot.

[dorinda]

Wowwww, the fine detail! I'd definitely have to go with thin-tip markers for those. They must end up spectacular, when colored in.