My Colouring Book

Day 82: If you had gone shopping for art supplies in any of the major hobby/craft stores this last week, you might have discovered cupboards as bare as Mother Hubbard's. Apparently, colouring books for adults were the rage for Christmas gift-giving, although I received mine as a "just because" gift several weeks earlier. Fortunately I already owned a full boxed set of 120 Prismacolor pencils and was therefore able to start as soon as holiday activities died down.

I wondered how I'd take to this pastime, having done no artwork worth mention since my days in the SCA when I served as one of our barony's scribes, and that with pens and inks. With the drawings already done for me, I was afraid I might get bored. However, I soon discovered that I could personalize the medium by adding shadings and interpretations to the illustrations. I had done several pages (starting at the beginning of the book, of course) before encountering this two-page spread. The pages mimic each other, but are not exact mirror images, and seemed to demand a spring/autumn rendition.

Prior to this, my winter days were often filled with working jigsaw puzzles, the same puzzles every year since I have a closetful. I'd put them together and take them apart, with nothing to show for the hours spent bent over the table. With colouring, the results are more permanent. It's also quite relaxing, even meditative (something which can't be said for puzzles). But the work does not go quickly! It took four days to complete these two pages.