mindful coloring

The joy of mindful coloring has previously always alluded me. I just haven’t wanted to spend my ‘spare’ time coloring.

Whenever my daughter asks me to color, I think of a million excuses as to why I don’t have time to color. So I decided to order myself a new coloring book with the hope that maybe I would be inspired and fall in love with it. And that is exactly what happened! I bought Mille Marota’s book ‘Beautiful Birds and Treetop Treasures’ and was inspired to color.

I downloaded an audio book, bought myself 80 gorgeous colored pencils and began to color. I ended up coloring for hours (14 to be precise) and was addicted! It took me a little bit to get over my fears of not coloring the pictures ‘correctly’ and to not be overwhelmed by the intricate designs and patterns. Once I choose a picture, I sat with it and thought about how I saw it in my mind. This helped me choose the colors I wanted and helped me focus. I realized that I love the process of choosing the colors for each picture - as you will see from the photos below I worked with shades of one color, other times I mixed colors together and I also enjoyed using rainbow colors (something my daughter loves to do).

Millie Marrota - Beautiful Birds and Treetop Treasures

It was soothing to sit and color and not to think about anything else.

Sometimes I enjoyed listening to the audio book while I was coloring, but sometimes I turned it off so that I could completely focus on the coloring.

I have returned home from vacation and I have been having withdrawals from not coloring. Last night, I sat down and started a new picture with my daughter. I plan to incorporate weekly coloring into my routine. I love being creative once again!