Scraps of Life: Coloring Therapy

Hello! I want to thank everyone who commented on the new studio, either on the Blog or on Facebook. I appreciate your comments so much. The studio is working out well so far. I have had a few chances to work on some things, and I really like the new, compact space. Mostly I like having a door! {giggle} My last space was in the open loft area of the old house. I am finding a door to come in very handy! The new space is much quieter, too!

I decided to post some coloring therapy today, since I have not made any paper craft projects yet. I did keep my coloring items with me all through the move, so I was able to finish a few projects!

As much as I enjoy coloring stamps, both physical and digital, I also I love coloring in coloring books. There are so many nice books made for grown-ups, with great paper (and some not so great paper). New books are being added to my wishlist every day! (If you have a book you would like to see me color in, leave a message and I will see if I have it in my collection!)

I colored this page over the last few months. I put HOURS of time into it, but I love the finished result.

I used Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, with a little bit of white gel pen, white paint pen, and black fine liner pen. The Prismacolor pencils worked pretty well on this paper. I was not able to put down too many layers of color, but I find that difficult to do with Prismacolor anyway. I am a bit too heavy handed and Prismacolor are super soft and waxy.

The picture is from the book Romantic Country (The First Tale) by Eriy. I found my copy on Amazon for under $9 in 2019. It is still available, but costs a few dollars more. As of this writing, it is on special during the Amazon "3 for the price of 2" deal. Eriy has several books in this series, plus a few other books. They are all adorable.

The size of the book is approximately 10" x 10", which is a nice size. The pictures are very detailed, but done in a very whimsical style, so you can color them with any supplies in any manner you wish. I cannot draw very well, which means coloring books allow me that sense of artistic accomplishment that goes beyond coloring a stamped image for a greeting card.

I chose this picture because I had an idea for the brick and stone, plus I wanted to try something fun on the door. Coloring books are a great way to hone your coloring skills, try new techniques, and experiment with color blends.

I chose French Grey 90%, 50%, 30%, Kelp Green, Sandbar Brown, Deco Yellow, Black, and White for the brick/stones. The yellow is just to show where the lantern light is hitting the brick. I used the white just a bit for highlights.

The wood sections, such as the widow frame above are colored with Dark Brown, Sienna Brown, and Beige Sienna. The brush you see is for sweeping away pencil dust. Prismacolor pencils are very dusty. It is not a special brush, it is just a cheap paint brush with the handle cut off.

I went to and fro on what color the steps and the building should be. I finally settled on making the steps gray, but in a bit different shade than the brick. I used French Grey 50%, 10%, Limepeel, and Green Ochre. I wanted the steps to be worn on the surfaces and mossy in the crevices.

The building is colored with 50% Warm Grey, Periwinkle, Powder Blue, and White. I wanted it to look a bit worn and shabby, so I did not make super smooth blends, and I added in the gray to mimic dirt. (I know I am spelling gray two ways...but we Americans spell it "gray" where the pencil manufacturer spells it "grey.")

I carried the brown tones to the street sign and into the shop for the shelving. The gray continues into the shop floor.

The blue door and other blue accents are just how I saw them in my mind's eye! I used Cobalt Turquoise, Peacock Blue, Light Aqua, Sky Blue Light, White, and Black. I also used a few of the green and brown pencils to add a bit of age to the wood.

I want to go to a pasty shop with a blue door! I carried the blue over to the sign trim and the window box.

I looked at lots of pictures of stained glass and wavy leaded glass to see how I could replicate it with pencils. I am NOT a fan of stained glass, however my oldest brother makes his own stained glass windows! He is very talented. Since I like a more subdued look than most stained glass, I decided to create wavy leaded glass with a blue stained glass inset.

To create the illusion of wavy glass, I scribbled with the blue and gray pencils so that it would seem like the wavy glass from yesteryear. I used a very sharp black pencil to make the lead lines stand out better.

I confess I almost gave up before coloring the flowers and curtains. I just had no vision for them. I checked out a few color palettes from the Sarah Renae Clark Color Catalog and decided to go with red flowers and terracotta pots. The large sign over the shop door seemed to be best in the shades of the other wood. I went back in later and went over the sign lettering with a black fine line pen.

The chalkboards were fun to do, but after they were colored black, I had to freehand the lettering with a white paint pen. Not my strongest skill. I wanted the chalkboards to have a rubbed out look to them, especially the one on the sidewalk. I used Cool Grey 90% and White pencils to color the chalkboard effect, then I used a fine point white paint pen for the lettering. I tried a gel pen, but it would not go over the waxy pencil.

The last bit to finish was the inside of the shop. All those dainty treats to color! I chose a few pencils and used them in different values for everything.

Now that the page is finished, I will spray it with a fixative made for colored pencils. This should keep the color from rubbing off onto the facing page.

I hope you enjoyed the project. I hope to try some coloring videos and tutorials in the future. I am not sure how many of my Followers are into coloring versus paper crafting, but I hope enough of your are colorists and will enjoy more coloring related posts.

As always, leave a comment as I so enjoy reading them. If you have questions you can pop them in the comments or send me a message via the Contact Form on the right sidebar.