Dear ladies (and gentlemen?),
When I was a child my mother would read bedtime stories to my brother and me. It was a time of the day I would cherish. She chose among her own childhood books and as we grew older she would read increasingly complex stories. One of the books I remember was the epic story The Winter Queen. It had wonderful drawings of Eastern European snowy landscapes. The characters were depicted wearing traditional costumes with rich embroidery. Most were black and white but my own mother had carefully coloured them when she was a teenager. My mother was born in 1940, she must have been coloring the book in 1953-55.
When I was a child my mother would read bedtime stories to my brother and me. It was a time of the day I would cherish. She chose among her own childhood books and as we grew older she would read increasingly complex stories. One of the books I remember was the epic story The Winter Queen. It had wonderful drawings of Eastern European snowy landscapes. The characters were depicted wearing traditional costumes with rich embroidery. Most were black and white but my own mother had carefully coloured them when she was a teenager. My mother was born in 1940, she must have been coloring the book in 1953-55.
And here I am in
2015, sixty years later, longing to start my first historical fiction "adult" coloring book. I pre-ordered it about a month ago and I just received an email that reads: “We now have delivery date(s) for the order you
placed on September 07, 2015 Gabaldon,
Diana -The Official Outlander Coloring Book-…”. Mrs Gabaldon, being the great story teller she is gives her own description:
"Well… adult coloring books. Evidently this is
now a "thing," with so-called adult coloring books being touted
widely as aids to meditation, as well as entertainment. I can kind of see that,
and certainly I’ve seen several very beautiful books that look like they’d be
interesting to color, if one was so inclined. (NB: The "adult"
designation apparently merely means they’re marketed to adults, not that they
contain R-rated illustrations. (Frankly, I think they’d be more interesting if
they did, but probably not a good marketing strategy for a wide audience)” You can continue reading here Diana's page
And it seems we are in the midst of a literary (if it might be so described) boom. In Montreal, were I live, I have already found two stores, one a hardware store that also has nice presents and decoration and one home décor store Zone were adult coloring books were in prominent display, in the later including a tempting array of crayons and pencils. I took some pics to share:
These are the pics from the store Zone in Montreal. the "Secret Garden" is by Johanna Basford who is the author of marvellously detailed coloring books. See the detail of her book "Secret Ocean"
To my delight I found this big maps of two of my favourite cities: The New York City and the Paris giant coloring roll. Also available from amazon Amazon_NEW-YORK. I picture myself taking over the dinner table for a me -time project while it snows outside. My beautiful box of color (or colour) pencils and maybe a cup of tea (cartful not to spill a drop!)
It certainly makes a very nice present for all budgets (starting at just a few dollars). You can add a nice box of pencils and voilà, guaranteed to glitter. In fact, last Christmas, unaware of the "it" factor in-the-making I gave a mandala coloring book to my Yoga-enthusiast aunt and she was delighted. She does therapy for teens and she thought it would be a nice addition to her desk's "toolbox" . In addition, it was easy to send across continents. What's not to like?.
Wishing you a relaxing coloring experience!
Miranda
