Just Add Colour

Or color if you prefer ☺

I'm not new to colouring (I have done this all my life), colouring books (I still have one from elementary school days) or coloured pencils (I am a coloured pencil artist) so it should be no surprise that I have embraced the current colouring trend with enthusiasm.

It is sad to see how much sub-standard work is available for sale and how much downright junk is available too. However there is a very good selection of excellent books available, so that there is plenty for everyone and every taste to choose from.

For me hardest of all was to get used to just colouring and not caring much about the outcome of the picture. I still have to remind myself regularly that this is not going to be framed, nor is it heading for a gallery. In fact it doesn't matter one bit whether I finish it or not! It has surprised me how hard it is to get used to such a different angle.

I also promised myself that my good, professional quality pencils will stay in the studio while other pencils, especially those from high school years (gasp) will be available for the books.

I 'fell in love' with a book from Dover Publishing as soon as I started looking around for something new to colour. I like needlework, I like history and I like to colour so this choice - Medieval Tapestries- was a no-brainer.

The images have beautiful clean lines and although the paper is light weight I think it will take pencil very well. I have not actually coloured in the book itself yet. Instead I copied, and enlarged an image because I wanted to use watercolour pencils and did not want to damage the book. Good decision...the paint would certainly have stained the other side of the page as it bled through.

The colouring is nothing special and the regular copy paper certainly has it's limitations, but I sure like those designs and it adds a pop of colour on the wall of my craft room.

I used Derwent watersoluable pencils and that 'ancient' box of Faber Castell pencils, dating back to the late 70's...

And here is a more playful take on the colouring process, featuring some giant pencil boxes..

And a few more pages - same technique and materials. These are loose and you can clearly see how much the copy paper warped from the wet media.

And finally - Dover offers some free sample pages for this book on their website HERE

Enjoy!