Adult Coloring Books And Stress Reduction

[Deleted member 1860]

I went to a local used bookstore today and got a whole bunch of coloring books! I may have purchased a few too many, but now I have a variety to work with. Some were only $1 (ones that already had some coloring in them), and others were $3. I even got a few of the stained glass ones from Dover!

So my advice is to check out used bookstores! It was pretty easy to search there because they had all these types of books in one section. (LOL, yes, I searched through the kids section!) I also went to a few thrift stores, but they put ALL of the children's books together, so it would have taken me forever to sift through them all and I just wasn't up for that. Oh, and who cares if the book is already slightly used? You can save a ton this way!

Now I'm off to see if I can find any cool art pens..... "Hi, My name is Solara and I am addicted to all kinds of art pens/markers!" LMAO

 

[Chris Volion]

I came across this news item yesterday:

I agree with Solara in that the detailed patterns make me nervous and not relaxed; prefer organic shapes.

I appreciate you pointing this out re: the detailed patterns. As I'm illustrating a coloring book at the moment I've been wondering if such patterns would be found agitating to anyone instead of restful (I tend to draw more naturalistically).

I'll admit my ignorance, but my collaborator is a chef and we are combining the coloring with recipes to create a coloring book/ cookbook hybrid. The hope was that it would combine the soothing merits of both coloring and baking. Does this even sound plausible from any of your personal experiences?

Thank you all for indulging my questions!

 

[ihateusernames]

This is awesome, I was just about to go hunt for this thread because:

I was just at Michael's and they have an adult coloring book endcap in the art section. They had some stacks of coloring sheets on sale (and some sketchbooks marked way down, too) and several different coloring books.

If anybody's interested.

Does this even sound plausible from any of your personal experiences?

It's certainly doable. My mom had one when I was a kid. LOL. (she still has it, she got it when I was a kid.) It had Holly Hobbie coloring pages disbursed throughout the recipes. I guess somebody knew that kids like to scribble in their mother's cook books and wanted to give them an outlet for it. I have no idea where she got that thing. It's a spiral bound thing like you can buy from churches, but there are far more pages than those usually have.

Anyway, it's quite possible adults would like coloring pages in their cookbook, too.

 

[desiderata310]

So .. after reading the thread I went over and found a book and tried it out.

I figured it was a way to reenter the world of creativity which I felt cut off from for many years. I used to paint, create and design all the time. now my job is solely numbers and administrative. I miss the opportunity to make pretty pictures with light or create something meaningful. I had also had my creative urges more or less beaten out of me over the years.

During the worst week of anxiety I've ever experienced (thanks to a bad drug reaction) I was able to experience 2 solid hours of peace, coloring a mandala.

Considering how horrible I felt I was pretty stoked.

I also told my therapist who was blown away and showed him what I had been doing. He's going to be suggesting this for some of his other clients.

 

[StellaBlue]

I have found some neat coloring pages online for free. I use them for embroidery patterns. Try "googling" adult coloring pages, meditative coloring pages, etc....then go to pictures. It's easy to get sucked into spending a lot of time though!

 

[ihateusernames]

That is wonderful, @desiderata310!!

@StellaBlue That's how I get a lot of my son's coloring sheets. I never thought of getting some of my own.

 

[StellaBlue]

I have to add that the term "adult coloring pages" does sound a little iffy :). I was afraid I might get some "hits" I'd rather not see!

 

[ghotiff]

I've never seen anything iffy searching for adult colouring in.

If you want to guarentee safety, add a noun to the search, eg lions or for something more abstract try zentangle or doodle.

 

[ihateusernames]

Now I have seen "adult" coloring pages while looking for coloring books. You can probably adjust your search filters, too.

 

[MT Johnny]

I was at a nursing home yesterday, the roommate of the patient I was there to see proudly showed me a brand new 'Frozen' coloring book complete with an attached package of washable markers. She was so thrilled, her husband just brought it to her.

Personally, and don't take this wrong, if someone told me to color in a coloring book, I'd just freak. A- not my idea of relaxation. I'm much more action-oriented. B - bad memories of the forced labor I was sentenced to, otherwise known as an hour of "arts and crafts' at the fricking day hospital program every day for 2 plus weeks. Hey, I coukd used that hour in all kinds of ways that would have relaxed me - but not that.

 

[StellaBlue]

Personally, and don't take this wrong, if someone told me to color in a coloring book, I'd just freak.

And that's why there's a world full of wonderful, fun, relaxing things to do - and you have the agency to choose which one(s) work for you! I have friends that cross stitch - I would end up sticking that needle in my eye if I had to do it for more than 10 minutes. :)

 

[MT Johnny]

Absolutely - finding that thing that interests or excites you is the key. What others think ... Meh ...