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!

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Weekend at the Met

It is wonderful to work at home in my studio, a cup of Sleepy Hollow chai next to me as I look out my picture window.

Now I am not complaining, I would not change it for the world, but sometimes I get a bit lonely. I often have coffee or lunch with local friends, but it is surely different than being around others in an office setting. You have to be your own inspiration a lot of the time, and if you are anything like me, that can get challenging.

This weekend I got to recharge my art batteries and my social batteries at The Met in NYC.

I did not care if there was a special exhibit, if it was extremely crowded, or if I was already tired, the minute I started to walk up those steps with my friend my switched turned ON.

Cezanne

I've seen the impressionists hundreds of times, and that is the section where I always end up first. I've been told that as you mature in your art experience that you expand and develop a larger art palate, and become more sophisticated and discriminating and view the impressionists in a kind of beginner way. 

Gauguin

Yes, I've learned about new artists, yes I love some of their work, but the impressionists are still my thing. I get lost in Van Gogh's Starry Night, Cezanne's (post-impressionist--I know) slightly askew perspective inspires me to break rules, and Gauguin's Tahitian colors relieve my need to revisit the psychedelic drugs of  my youth.



I wear black almost every day of my life because it is easy. Don't have to think about matching or coordinating...ugh. BUT my home is filled with color, even my area rug looks like a painting.

My watercolor attempt at impressionism.

So for me it seems to be about the colors. Maybe the brights help my battery to recharge, or maybe there is something to the psychology of color therapy. But either way I know for a fact that getting out there and experiencing life helps with art.

Get out there and experience.

xo