When I was a kid, my mom bribed me with coloring books. I’d sit still in the rose-scented, plastic-wrapped parlors of old aunts–for a coloring book. I’d eat pan-fried chicken livers–for a coloring book. I’d get my long hair chopped into the dreaded pixie cut–for a coloring book.
Between the lines. Outside the lines. Whatever. A fresh coloring page and crisp crayons from a 64-pack felt both orderly and filled with possibility. I still feel that way.
But who knew I was in the zeitgeist until I stumbled on this article in the New York Times: Grown-Ups Get Out Their Crayons!
(OK, maybe not a large, well-peopled zeitgeist, more like a mini-zeitgeist of like-minded colorers.)
I recently opted for the Folk Art coloring book by Lisa Congdon pictured above, but here are some other pages that might inspire.
Clockwise from top left:
Secret Japan by Zoe de Las Cases
Splendid Cities by Rosie Goodwin & Alice Chadwick
Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book by Johanna Basford