M

I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

 

New Obsession: Adult Coloring

by | Oct 10, 2015 | Uncategorized | 30 comments

Over the past few months, I have been seeing more and more of this come to be popular.

Over the past week, though I have been very curious about it. One of the major aspects that drew me to this is the “artsy” aspect. I have always had a fascination with this, but have never been able to really pursue it since the best I can do with drawing is stick figures. Where I am at locally, whenever I mention “adult coloring” I get blank looks so its not even known about at all. But considering I live out west, and this didn’t start in the states I know its not well known here. But its beginning to. I love the artist of the book I just got “Secret Garden. I love her illustrations, and all have been done by hand instead of digitally done as most of the other “coloring” books. And I had some fun stuff ordered so I could start this with a great start.

  1. Secret Garden by Johanna Bradford
  2. Prismacolor Pencils 150 set. I found a good deal for these online so I decided to grab the full set and it has a beautiful combo of colors.
  3. Colorless Blenders

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Then I wanted to share my first work. Not a big deal, but I had fun with this one. This is the dust jacket of the actual book that you can color. Worked great with just the pencils, although I wasn’t able to do much blending of colors or shading because of the thicker material of the paper. But I can’t wait to try it out in the actual book. I have seen some of the work others have done, and WOW. Some people really go all out with adult coloring.

IMG_0304

Over this weekend, I did this and I am loving this. Its a fun habit, and its an perfect activity while listening to my latest audiobook or watching my tv obsession “blue bloods”. Haven’t decided what I will do for building the background….thinking about doing a mix of pastels….blues, yellows and pinks. What do you think? Or should I go more bolder with black and a brown? What was most fun was how relaxing it was to do this. Work, the blog and just life in general has been pretty stressful lately. So this has been so great for me, for the weekend at least for a couple of days to take a break and find something new. I don’t plan on doing this all of the time, just a little bit each day. I have been missing reading and it’s only been two days.

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30 Comments

  1. Sophia Rose

    I’ve seen it trending, too, and love the idea. I’m like you and can’t draw so having a coloring book like Secret Garden would be fun. Your dust jacket pages are gorgeous.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thank you. I had lots of fun with it. I do love seeing this become more popular. I love this author, because all the illustrations she does is by hand, and from memories of living in the country when she was younger. Love that and being able to connect with the simple things in life.

      Reply
  2. Angie F.

    I love your pencil set! I only have a Crayola 50 color set that got a few years ago. It’s okay for now, but I am finding that I want more variation, especially for pages that have a lot of little details. And like I said on Twitter, I’d love a nice marker set to mix with the pencil for interesting texture.

    I’ve only colored two pages so far this week, since I just got my coloring book, but I’m already looking around for other books to order! I may need to check this one out, as it’s the one I’ve seen around most often. And I love that the dust jacket is also a big coloring page! I have found some that I really like, but then the description says they only have 30 pictures for $11. Mine has 60 for the same price! I feel like those are just trying to milk this new trend for all its worth rather than providing a quality coloring experience. But there’s plenty out there to choose from!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks!! I love it too!! When I got my package, it felt better than Christmas hehe I never really cared for Crayola since they tend to crack and break easily for me. And when I heard about this brand, and how many people raved about it….well I am loving these pencils. They blend so well. I would highly recommend this book though and her other two. I love these illustrations, they are gorgeous and I love the scenic floral designs she does. There is alot of different books out there, but there is something about this artist I love the most and that’s why I started with her first.

      Reply
  3. Alyn Yang

    I want one! I used to buy kids coloring books just so I could color!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      oh you should grab it up!!! These illustrations are gorgeous and I can’t wait to blend and color. I love how relaxing and fun coloring is.

      Reply
  4. L.

    This is a hobby that I was recently introduced to and have begun to fall in love with. You have colored a beautiful piece of art. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Oh I agree…and its so easy to fall in love with and its not hard to do ( I mean if two year olds can color…so can we right??) Thanks for that sweet compliment. First time I have colored in years, so not too bad of a job. Excited to see what happens when I get into coloring more.

      Reply
      • L.

        Right! Why should children have all of the fun? 😉 Well, I think you did an amazing job as I loved it!

        Reply
  5. Elizabeth the Evil Overlord

    I recently won a coloring book from Goodreads and am enjoying it immensely. When I was teaching geography I always had the students color maps and I had strict rules for how they did it. They loved having a day to just chat with each other and color, as do I. The other teachers always laughed at us, and now that it’s a “thing” for adults they’re eating their words! How about a dark blue background? I like a contrast, so something that’s not pastel.

    Reply
  6. Lexxie

    I just love your coloring pencils, Renee! You have every color you can ever need, and I’m sure that makes the coloring experience even better!

    I have a couple of coloring books, too, and I really enjoy the artsy aspect of it, because, like you, I really don’t know how to draw 😀

    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thanks!! Such a wonderful set. It was better than Christmas getting these. I love all the things you can do with colored pencils and its fun learning.

      Reply
  7. AJ Sterkel

    My mom likes adult coloring books, but I’ve never tried it. I might have to.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      oh you totally should…but I might warn you, you might get addicted hehe.

      Reply
  8. Lily B

    haha i have seen those around, thats pretty cool

    Reply
  9. Lola

    I also got one of this author her colouring books, but I have the forest one. her illustrations are goregous indeed. I also like the artsy aspect of colouring and it’s so addictive and relaxing. Your colouring set looks amazing, with so many different colours! I also like how you can colour the dust jacket and the first page and add your name. I really like how you’ve coloured the dust jackets, so pretty and colourfull!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      ooh I can’t wait to try out the forest one. I love how relaxing it is and what a fun stress reliever it is. I love what she has done with the dust jackets too….just adds more for us to color. I have so much fun building and blending colors….so fun.

      Reply
  10. Bea @ Bea's Book Nook

    Gorgeous! I want a coloring book, I think I’d find it soothing.

    Reply
  11. Jennifer_FairyTales

    I want to try this so badly! I’m not artistic at all, but I do like trying. I also love the idea of coloring while listening to an audiobook. I think you did a beautiful job on that dust jacket.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      oh you should definitely try it out!! I love how these are built for adults with all the detail. I would highly recommend trying this series out. Beautiful illustrations.

      Reply
      • Jennifer_FairyTales

        I bought Enchanted Forest and it should come in today!

        Reply
  12. Kristin @ My ParaHangover

    If I wasn’t busy reading all the time I would so be addicted to this! I remember LOVING coloring in books similar to these when I was a kid but I think they came with markers back then. Your work is beautiful 😀

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Thank you!! Oh I don’t do it as much I want to since I love reading more. But I do it a little bit each day and its one of the best stress relievers I have ever tried.

      Reply
  13. Carol Cork

    I always loved colouring books when I was young and have often thought about doing something similar because it is relaxing.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      Its so fun and I love how stress relieving it is. I love how popular its becoming now and that these books are being made for adults with much more detail and so many ways to color.

      Reply
  14. Quinn's Book Nook

    Adult coloring is fun! I have a book, but i haven’t been coloring that much. I do a lot of planner stuff (like decorating my pages, etc.) so that’s what I do to be creative and relieve stress. But I do like coloring and I really want that coloring book!

    Your picture is so pretty!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      It is right?? I am loving it and very addicted to it. I think its neat you do your own planner…I am so simple I just order mine from franklin covey. I love how stress relieving it is, I wish I had been doing it all of these years. You would love this coloring books. This author is amazing, all of her illustrations are beautiful and makes me want to get a cottage in the country. I would highly recommend her if you like coloring.

      Reply
  15. Sarah @ One Curvy Blogger

    OMG! I love adult coloring books. They are a fairly recent obsession for me as well, since I only discovered them this summer. I really want Secret Garden, as well. Looks so much fun!

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      They are so fun right? I love them. It is a fairly new thing, but I am enjoying it. I love these books by Johanna Bradford, gorgeous illustrations.

      Reply
  16. prnovel

    They say those who color as adults are happier, must bring you back to younger happier times or something< i read an article on it the other day 🙂 anyway your 1st attempt is beautiful

    -Amanda P

    Where the Night Kind Roam

    Reply

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