Coloring Conflict
My agent recently blogged about trends in publishing and mentioned the sudden surprising popularity of coloring books for adults.
I confess to conflicted feelings.
Years ago, I taught workshops on using rubber stamps to create homemade cards, scrapbook pages, and gifts. I still use my supplies to make cards, and part of the fun is stamping an outline image and coloring it in. So I understand the stress-relief and fun of coloring.
On the other hand, I hear the voice of my college art teacher, who encouraged us to never give a child a coloring book. He urged us to give generous pads of paper to children and to encourage them to create, not to “stay inside the lines.”
I see his point. So why have so many of my creative friends embraced coloring books?
Perhaps after struggling to be creative all day, it’s relaxing to enjoy someone else’s efforts. The picture is provided. The only decision to make is which colors to use, and there really are no mistakes – so no pressure.
Plus, some of the images are so appealing, it’s fun to linger with them. I’ll admit that I put a few coloring books on my Christmas wish list and am now enjoying filling small spaces and seeing the art unfold–art as a collaborative effort. The design of the line artist join with the color and medium choice of the colorer.
What do you think? Should those of us who are enjoying coloring books instead doodle and create on blank paper? Would that offer the same relaxation while stimulating more creativity? Have you dipped a toe into the trend? Why do you enjoy it?
Blessings!
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I love the trend. It’s fun to see the coloring books out there. As an adult with three kids, who has the time for it though?
Thanks for commenting, Carrie. There are some really beautiful options out there now. But you’re right, it’s always hard to make time for a little “play.”
As some who creates from scratch as well as follows the pattern–whether with fiber or drawing or words–I think both pure creative work such as doodling as well as structured art, like coloring books, are needed.
There is great joy in creating something from “nothing” but your imagination. It provides a freedom we experience in few other places in our lives, a chance to explore who God has made us to be as an individual, and allows us to mimic our Creator in a unique way. However, creating this way is hard work and will be filled with trial and error. As a result, it can be terrifying, gut-wrenching, and very time consuming.
I think the ease and the minimal amount of work is why coloring books are often appealing, especially in our busy world. We desire to create, but don’t want to take the time to create. However, this doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for coloring books; indeed, sometimes we need to learn to “color in the lines.” The universe is structured and orderly, has form and pattern and an underlying rhythm. That is because God is a God of order and science and law as well as a God of creativity and beauty and variety. Coloring books provides a nod to this; there are rules that we need to abide by and we have to learn to work within the structure of the world God has created. They are also fly in the face of society’s insistence that the greatest freedom comes from having no restrictions; they show us that sometimes having a few restrictions–the lines in this case–can free us in a way that the blank page does not. And for the ones who like to break the rules, finding a way to work with a given structure while expressing our own personal flair stretches our creativity in a way complete freedom cannot. And of course as you noted, they remind us that art, like much else in life, is often collaborative; we aren’t “more artistic” just because we work alone. Even God created in collaboration with Himself: “Let us make man . . .”
So I don’t think it is an either/or question. Rather, we need create from scratch as well as follow another’s structure to fully appreciate the gift of creativity and learn to use it to its fullest.
Great thoughts, Chawna! Thanks for sharing!!!!! Yes, it certainly doesn’t need to be “either/or.” 🙂
I just got a coloring book and colored pencils but have not yet had the time to play. I do look forward to it though. I am not such a creative child of God, my sister got all those genes, but I always enjoyed coloring as a child.
Not everyone has natural/original artistic abilities, so their is a niche for the coloring books. My ten year old granddaughter loves the ones she received for Christmas gifts. Hopefully it will feed her artistic tendencies. I gave my six year old g-daughter a sketchbook and Sharpie fine tip pens to create her own art…she didn’t complain as she created several pages immediately.
I’m on the fourth book in the Restorer’s Series and have been unable to put them down! I stole every moment I could in between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years preparation’s to find out what was going to happen next! It seems the fights between good and evil are parallel to what we face in our world today. Your comparisons between the Restorer and those who believe in The One and Biblical stories added comforting familiarity to the series. In the name of The One…
Thanks, Jan!
It’s true that different learning styles and personalities may enjoy different approaches to art. That’s such a good point….as shown by your two granddaughters.
And thanks for sharing your enthusiasm for the Restorer books…that means so much to me! If you haven’t done it yet, and have a moment, you may want to post a brief review at sites like Amazon. The Deliverer especially needs more reviews (Amazon shows books to shoppers more if they have 50 or more reviews). But if not, you still made my day by telling me your response to the stories 🙂
Hi, Kathy! Thanks for commenting! You’ll enjoy it. I’ve had fun, and it really is relaxing. If I’m feeling a bit creative or rebellious I color things the “wrong” colors for fun…and get a bit more surreal. Other times I just use a couple of my favorite colors for the whole picture. Lots of ways to play. 🙂 Talk to you soon!
Hi, Sharon. As a mother and pre-school teacher, I frown at coloring books and pages for kids….but for an adult, color away!
Hi, Carol!!! Thanks for commenting. You would have gotten along great with my art prof. And you’re probably right that little developing minds are different than an old tired brain like mine–and so the issues may be different. 😉 As a pre-school teacher, what are some of the reasons you’d discourage coloring books/pages for children?