Featuring colorist Ronda Francis

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Coloring is the New Black...and Orange, and Pink, and Blue...

I remember coloring in the basement of my aunt's house in New Jersey with my cousins as a child. We all had the same Casper coloring book, and despite the mostly adult party going on all around us, we were in our own very happy colorful world, creating, and feeling great.

My images were boldly outlined, then colored in with a lighter hand. My sister loved brights and it made her pictures eye-catching and fun. A cousin didn't follow any type of guidelines--her own or any other--her trees may have been pink and the sky possibly purple.

The point of telling this is just that we all had a great time, we all did a different version of the same picture, no pressure, and it was awesome.

We spent time together, kind of like a youngster version of a quilting circle. No one had to entertain or impress anyone...we just did our thing. Sometimes we cracked jokes, sometimes we chatted about our lives, and sometimes we said nothing. We were just together.

I think this is missing in the world today.

We get together, but there is a lot of social climbing, and fancy Pinterest table setting, and fancier recipes than I could ever cook. I miss getting together just for the sake of getting together...nothing fancy...and I think coloring is helping us do just that.

Yes, it is a digital world, but it is a good thing here. We find groups on Facebook or Instagram, or follow our favorite artists and find other like-minded colorists.

The world is a crazy place right now, and coloring is a gentle place to sit, create, and be yourself. 

I think we all have an artist inside. Picasso said all children are artists, and the problem is how to remain one once we grow up. Coloring books take the pressure out of art. Many get canvas confusion...when they look at a blank page or canvas they don't even know where to start. When we color, someone has started the canvasfor us, and a little of the steam is released so we are free to just go for it and have fun.


Some see a therapist, some meditate, some do yoga. I think we are seeing a new way to relax...and that is coloring.

xo

Join my Facebook group if you like...coloring friends abound!

Click here to join in!  


2 comments:

  1. When I was a child, my fine motor coordination was slow to develop, and that really showed in colour books or other art.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahhhh interesting. Writing and printing too?

      Delete