A few months ago, I had the pleasure of teaching a Tracing Memories/Coloring Photo Line Art class at my local library. What made this class different is that I actually got my Mom to attend.
A little backstory- My Mom has an art degree. She was an amazing oil painter, both portraits and landscapes, but she gave it up when I was very little because she had a house full of 6 kids and no room for painting. So, she shifted to self publishing quilting books as part of her creative outlet. She hasn't drawn or painted much in the intervening years. She always told me growing up, "Never get an art degree, you'll never make any money with it." I think that my family expected me to be a doctor or a lawyer or something like that (Not a chance!). Mom didn't really like my simplified, cartoony drawing style, and she just couldn't relate as well to my simplified, over-blended Copic illustrations.
Flash forward- Mom comes to my workshop where we are coloring a photo from a local park. It was a much more painterly, realistic style and it resonated with her. She got into it. She connected with a sweet family who took my class. And then, mom started her own relaxing coloring group at the local library. Mom would bring her markers, until the others built up their own collections. They would meet once a week to color whatever images struck their fancy: Mandalas, photos, manga...anything they found that they liked. They gabbed about life and family and whatever. It became the highlight of their week.
They had fun coloring. It brought peace and stress reduction to their life.
Look around you. Are you happier when coloring? Are you in the zone? Do you feel the peace that comes when you tone out the world around you and color what you love?Have you seen all the articles in the news recently about how popular coloring is, and how good it is for your health? Coloring is Awesome!
I really want to hear your coloring story.
What motivates you to color? Is it to cope with the loss of a loved one? Is it because you can squeeze it in on long road trips? Is it because you remember coloring with your grandma when you were little?
Please send me an email with YOUR coloring story and maybe a couple photos. I will choose some stories here and there and share them with others for inspiration (Don't worry, I'll let you know if your story is chosen).
(This photo is from a class I taught at a local assisted living facility a couple years ago.)
Host a coloring partyIf you've felt that relaxation that comes from coloring, then I challenge you with this- have you gone out of your way to spread that happiness with others? Have you invited someone over to color with you? Someone who has never tried coloring before?
This Summer, take a moment and color with someone who needs a break. It could be a stressed out co-worker, a friend in an assisted living center, a child or an aging parent. Just block out some time and color!
Giveaway
Please leave a comment on this post, tell us who you love coloring with or who you want to color with, for a chance to win a copy of my Coloring Flowers book + a selection of flowers line art printed on our specialty marker paper.
My goal is to encourage people to relax, and more than that, help someone else relax. One thing this busy world needs more of is simple relaxation. Go back to your happy coloring place and bring someone with you.
I will choose a winner on Friday.
Thanks and have a colorful week!!
60 comments:
I like coloring with my wife. She likes to sketch nature and watercolor the sketches. I sketch whatever I see and sometimes draw manga.
I love coloring with my daughter. Even though she is grown up now it's still fun to reconnect in this way.
I love colouring with my little nieces :)
I have been coloring for a looooong time. I'm in my 60's and it is such a stress reliever. Crayons, colored pencils and now my newest love - Copics. So relaxing. And my newly graduated daughter received an adult coloring book and some crayons as a graduation present. She was so excited!!
I like coloring with my friends! Who don't mind that I can't draw much of anything and stick to printed pages :)
I don't hang out with anyone to color. Wish I could color with you! I certainly enjoyed coloring the witch artwork you uploaded last October.
I love colouring with my daughter (5). She has taught me so much about just having fun with what we are doing. (I'd like to think I've taught her about using more than one colour! ;))
I'd love to color with my daughter and create something awesome for their apartment.
I've always loved to color. I've been doodling around since I can remember. I was very shy when I was little, and didn't like large crowds (and my family is a large one, so, tough luck hahaha). Since my mom notice that, every time we travel, she would always carry a few pencils and a sketchbook, until it wasn't necessary, cause they were already on my backpack. She always encourage me to pursue my 'artistic side' as she refers to it.
Now, I don't have as much time as I would like to, but its nice to relax with my nephews (they're almost 5 years old) and teach them what (little) I know. They really like when I draw them hahaha.
It was nice to find this blog. I watched and extensive video on youtube about the copic booth on last years comic con. Even though it was almost an hour long, it was very entertaining and enlightening.
Right now I just love coloring by myself for the solitude and just for pure relaxation. Grinchswoman@hotmail.com
I have loved to color since I was a child. I love to color now with my granddaughters. We have a lot of fun and it gives us time together, just us girls.
Both granddaughters have very strong artistic skills, so they are an inspiration to me.
I love this post! I always colored with my 4 kids and now my daughter does to relax. Looking at this pic and your mom's story I am inspired to do this with a senior group near me. What a wonderful idea! Thank you, :)
I LOVE to color . . . especially since I discovered alcohol markers. I just recently had a coloring class where I shared some of my favorite stamps to color and helped with a few ideas. We had such a great time that before I knew it, 2 1/2 hours had passed and I was late leaving! I tell anyone who listens that coloring (and crafting in general) is the best therapy as it allows you to focus on your creative side instead of worrying about life and all it's trappings. I know I feel lighter and more centered when I finish a craft project like a card. Thank you for this amazing giveaway and your continued inspiration!
Coloring has always been a fun way for me to relax. I will print up a bunch of digital images and bring down all of my markers and/or pencils and color while watching TV. I love to hang with my daughter and color and now that she is working with kids she is passing that love on with those she teaches. Thank you for offering this wonderful giveaway! I love to read your articles...sorry..but glad you aren't a doctor! LOL HUGS
I agree with Kim... I am so glad you are not a doctor... lol You are inspiration to me... I Loved to color with my daughter. Watching her face and listening to her chat about what colors she was using and why... when she got a little bit older, she was more quiet/absorbed in her coloring... and interesting to watch... Once, When she was young and at the doctors, he brought her a "pink" balloon... to which she told him, it was more of a salmon color... "How does she know that?"... Don't you chat about colors with your kids when you color together... lol Thanks for such a great give-a-way... I've been wanting this book since it came out...
Faith
I haven't learned to love colourng yet so I haven't been doing it very often. I have lost my crafty mojo and would love to get it back. Thank you for the chance to win your book - this is very exciting to me!
I love coloring with my little granddaughter Dahlia. She's 4 1/2 and is so into crafting with grandma! It's fun to watch her start learning to color inside the lines and wanting to make a card!
I love colouring and LOVE my copics. It just makes me happy to colour/paint and I love to share my passion. I have a few girlfriends that I have "enabled" on their journey and we now get together regularly to colour along together.
I don't have anyone to color with but that's okay because I can sit and relax and enjoy my quite time. Thanks for a chance to win your give away.
I love what you teach. I have been an art teacher, but now retired. I am just now discovering the copics. I love doing any type of art. I have done it since I was a small child. But have not been able to do it while I raised a son. Now that I am a widow it is much easier for me to do my art. I hope to learn a lot about copics.
I love coloring with my husband! I love watching his face as all the tension and stress disappears lissag123@verizon.net
I love colouring with my grown daughter. She has 4 kids of her own she loves to colour with. I enjoy our special relaxing mom and daughter time together colouring. We relax, laugh and wipe away the days worries. We have had a sad start to our summer losing 2 family members and really need some colouring time SOON.
My grandma always had time to sit down and color with me. I don't have any clear memories of the time spent coloring, but I do remember feeling loved.
Now, I get together once in a while with some girl friends. Sometimes we craft, and sometimes we just play with markers. It's just so relaxing to sit there, color, and talk.
I like to sit in my room and zone out. Between chemo treatments, it's the only time I feel normal. Flowers are my favorite.
Hi, We have a set of friends that meet once a month to color together. We spend the day sharing lunch, goodies, talk, and lots of coloring and ideas. We all have purchased a set of your previous books on Copic coloring. Thanks for the chance to win the new one. Shirley
I have always loved to color and now it's all the rage. When I attended stamping classes they began to sell Copic markers and offered a class using their markers. We colored and most of us ended up buying sets to take home. I love coloring with my one friend who enjoys it also. We chat and color the time away.
I keep trying to get my daughter to colour with me, but she insists that she would get frustrated. I think she's just used to using the wrong tools. If I could just figure out a way to get her to think it was her own idea, it might just work. I love the books of yours I have so far. Maybe I should just leave them where she will pick them up?
Hi Marianne...when I was around 10, I won a Dopey Duck coloring contest put on by the police department...my prize was a plane ride along with the other state-wide winners...my project I colored in rainbow color fashion. I can still remember what I wore on that plane ride - a charturse sun dress with a row of red buttons diagonally from the shoulder to the hem of dress. The only other thing I remember about it was I got air sick! Only wish I had received my colored piece back! To date I sooooooooooooo enjoy coloring - any medium, but especially with the Copic markers. I look forward to the classes every few months...so inspirational! I already have your book so will pass on the chance to win it...a great giveaway for someone! Just so you know, tell your Mom you are a Doctor of sorts...because you always make me feel better thru your classes and whenever I color!!!! Thanks Doc!!!
Paper Hugs,
Jan
If I got a chance to sit down and color with someone it would probably be Jennifer Dove. She's got a sense of humor I enjoy. I missed a boot camp of hers in Florida about 5 years ago because I had just started purchasing Copic Markers and I couldn't afford the class. I do love coloring. The feeling of coloring has stayed with me since I was small. Such fun and relaxation.
I would love to color with my 85 year old mom! I think that would be the most relaxing thing to do. We could talk the afternoon away over some coff or tea.
Hi Marianne
I like to color with 2 of my friends. We meet once a week: we color and then make cards. As we are coloring we chat, laugh and relax....
In fact we spent a wonderful day in good company!
Have a great week,
I love coloring with my grandchildren and my daughter Desiree' We always have a wonderful time!! Every time the grandchildren come over they ask me if they can stamp,color and make some cards with me. Who can so no to that? I know I can't
I love coloring with my sister who has so much stress in her life. It gives us both a chance to relax and talk or just color!
I have been coloring with Crayola Crayons since I was a child (many, many moons)! I used to color in coloring books, but I can no longer find plain coloring books, they are all activity books. Unfortunately, I do not have anyone to color with, but I don't mind coloring alone. I put on some of my favorite music and start coloring. I have quite a few copics, but I can't seem to let go and just color, I have to look at a picture with the list of colors, then color my image. One of my goals is to just let go and do my own thing and not worry about if it is "right or wrong". I would love to find some online classes that aren't too expensive to help me get over my hump, but I have yet to find anything. In my neck of the woods, we don't have any type of classes, so I have to rely on the internet.
Thanks for the awesome post and for the chance to win.
I like coloring with my daughters, but we don't get to do much anymore since they are grown and on their own. I would love to win your coloring book so that I can go back to my coloring days even if by myself. :D
I'd love to colour with my girlfriend. But she isn't artistic at all. One time she 'drew' something for one of my kids to entertain them. I took one look and told her, "that's why you are a musician and not an artist!" We still laugh about it to this day! She is an amazing pianist tho. I'd also love to colour with my son but he prefers only working in line drawings without colour. Sigh... Oh, and I'd also love to colour with you one day!
I love to color with my 10yo daughter. I have learnt many new great colour combinations from her that i would never have thought worked. I love that i don't have to think when colouring, the outside world melts into the background for a few hours.
I love to color mostly with my Copic Markers, but I also love using other medium such as Prisma pencils and watercolor crayons. I think I am channeling my inner child. I always loved to color as a child and then more so as I had children and could color with them. They are grown women now, but I'd love to have another special time with them again to do some coloring. Maybe the granddaughters would love to come too.
I just started coloring AGAIN...thanks to COPIC.. As a child my friend and I used to color paper doll clothes that her sister would design. Now I am coloring with stamped images with a "grown-up" friend that we use in scrapbooking and cardmaking. I forgot how relaxing it is to color !!! Thank you COPIC
What a wonderful story! I may have to check with our library and see if they would allow something like this. Currently, I go to my mom's every Friday for the family get together.. Usually just me, a couple of my sisters and their kids. I very often take my markers, some paper, and stamps. No drawing required.. just coloring. Sometimes I will print some nice pictures on cardstock and take those with me. My nieces usually come over to me and ask if they can color too. Which, of course, I encourage and expect. That's why I always just happen to have extra supplies. Other times, we sit at a card table and put a puzzle together. ^_^ It's just a nice fun way to relax, and talk. They tend to open up more, when their mind is occupied with other things.
I do love to color! And to share the joy of coloring with others! My favorite person to color with is my daughter, Allison. We can sit for hours coloring, creating - some moments talking non-stop, other moments in silence just enjoying each other. I can understand your joy in coloring with your mom. Thank you for the chance to win Marianne. Take care and STAY POSITIVE!
I recently found the happiness that coloring provides, I am a novice but love to color with my little ones. Thanks for all you do and share!
I'd love to color with my friend, Lisa, who recently bought her first few Copic markers!
Carol B
ciaoitalia2007 (at) gmail(dot) com
My favorite person to color with is my grown daughter. Both of us love to color using Copic Markers and every chance we get to sit, relax, chat and color we do.
I've always loved to color and can still sit and color in a coloring book with Crayola crayons with the grandchildren.
I recently took up coloring as a way to relax and do something for myself. This was all in spired by Kathy at the daily marker. Now I color with an amazing group of women on IG. The inspiration to color anything just for fun is great for mind body and soul.. thank you for spreading such a fun healthy craft
I love coloring with my son. We both relax and have great conversations.
I love to color anywhere, with anyone. I've just colored at 4 day weekend crafting retreats, airports during layovers, and vacations.
I love to color with my kids. I am a stay at home mom to 3 kids and often times it is the only way to get my boys to settle down and give me a break from their craziness!
Before my mom became ill, I loved to color with her. I love the relaxation and creativity that comes from coloring. I would love to bring the party to my office to encourage creativity among my team members. We develop content for grades K-12 and creative outlets are wonderful for encouraging new ways to approach learning.
I like to color with my sister and her daughter - I learn so much from them.
I love to do any crafting with my daughter. Have done since she was a very little girl. She's mid-twenties now and we still love getting together to make cards - with stamped or digi images that we can enjoy colouring. It's SO relaxing I sometimes forget to eat unless she tells me :)
I love to color by myself, it is me time to unwind after a busy day or week. I would love to have a copy of your copic coloring book
Coloring is very therapeutic for me. Concentrating on a page alleviates all of the other things running through my brain. :) A co-worker and I started getting together to color a few weeks ago. I love coloring with her because we are both beginners. We bought some adult coloring books by Adult Coloring Book Artists from Amazon....very cool patterns!!
I like colouring with a cup of coffee - my favourite time of the day!
I enjoying coloring with my son, who, even at 16, still finds it fun. I also like coloring with my card making group. Chatting, laughing and coloring--a perfect evening with friends.
I love to color - copics, pencils, watercolor pencils, twinks, peerless, chalks - you name it and I have it. I loved coloring with my kids when they were little and now that they are in college I teach some classes with our all volunteer 'Center for LifeLong Learning' - the coloring classes always seem to go over well. Even though I teach with pencils, I have been thinking of a marker class - although most of our students are older retired folks on limited income so will have to see.
I just started coloring. I am a caregiver for my mother who has renal failure and moderate Alzheimer's. Her doctor recommended coloring mandalas. It has helped so much. I got my mom to try and she loves it. So I just got a set of Copic markers to do my coloring, it's just great to calm down and relieve the stress and now something we can both do together.
I belong to a group of "artists" that gather monthly. Each month we share "new" techniques and/or mediums. The levels of talent range from very beginners to advanced artists. We have such an enjoyable gathering and the love, laughter and techniques is loved by all!
I just watched your interview on PopSketcher youtube channel filmed during the Con. I love your blog. Fun!! (I'd love to be your winner..fingers crossed!)
oh.. and I want to color with YOU!!
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