What's the deal with all those coloring books?

Happy Tuesday!

amyoes.com

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” 

― Ian Wallace

Haven't I been telling you to get out those box of crayons?  Amazingly, coloring books are all the rage right now!  

Well...you know all is right with the world when you see this clip on Fox Evening News...

Possibly the best movie scene ever (from Billy Madison)

 COLORING IS MAKING A COMEBACK!  (FOR ADULTS!)

It's not just me - there was a wonderful article from about .com - What's up with coloring books for adults? 

This is just one of the many adult coloring books flooding bookstores right now - being a kid is so in right now - I love it!

" Coloring is a creative act that requires little actual creativity, as all you’re doing is choosing colors. This limited creativity makes it an ideal stress relieving activity because you have some control over your creation (the choice of colors), but you don’t have to make any serious of complex decisions, because all the drawing has been done for you. And it’s difficult to argue that adult coloring books are the same as the much more simplistic books kids play with; one glance at the pages in Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book will demonstrate that." - about.com

And here's another article that says

Adult coloring books grow in popularity as relaxing pastime

and now there is preschool for adults?  Sign me up for that!

I'm a big fan of coloring pages.  In fact, I made my own coloring page of Singing Tree that I sell along with the poster.

You can also learn how to make your own coloring pages from magazine articles - I have a fun little tutorial for that on Sunbeams and Heartstrings.

That's why I bring art to the hospital - I can color out my fear or frustration (or boredom)

Drawing is not just for kids, and I've always felt that way.  And who doesn't enjoy a  whiff from a box of fresh crayolas?

Or Copic markers!

I also love to draw out my visualizations...

Visualizing my goals for 2011

In my article on art therapy for addiction, I write

I love visual metaphors to help stay on the right track. I like to imagine anxious, addictive thoughts as red frantic tadpoles along a river, swimming swiftly through one’s mind.  I imagine myself kneeling by a riverside, just calmly noticing those tadpoles passing down the river. I see the tadpoles pass on by and leave my view. 

A drawing I made to visualize myself at peace with my anxiety.

As I notice these thoughts come and go, I say to myself, “My anxious thoughts are like tadpoles in a river. They keep swimming toward me and quickly swim away as I let them pass.” <Click to Tweet!>

In The Studio...

My oblivion and unashamed passion help to silence my inner critic.  Whatever I paint, I create from the heart.  I try to focus on the physical sensations of feelings my brush glide across the canvas, drenched in a juicy glob of heavy-bodied paint.  

Whatever I paint, I paint from the heart.

And today I was thinking about my wedding...

Of course, I botched up the magazine photo when I put a bit too much white paint on it!

But did I mention that acrylics are incredibly forgiving? And that a paper towel does WONDERS?

I didn't know where I was going with this...but do I ever?

Although perhaps I did have a little something in mind...

I can't believe I'm married now.  It's not even the feeling that "I've planned and planned for this and it was over before I knew it."  It's more like, "Wow, I did the marriage thing.  I've checked that off of my life list."

Wow.

And as the pun-derful world of greeting cards might put it....

Before I go...

This was just one of the amazing views from our honeymoon cruise.  Here's some more eyecandy:

They took a hike so you don't have to.  Check out 45 Breathtaking Views from the World's Greatest Hiking Circuits.

“whatever you do

be gentle with yourself.

you don’t just live

in this world

or your home

or your skin.

you also live

in someone’s eyes.” 

― Sanober Khan

Show me your doodle!  Pin it, Tweet me, telepathy...(sorry to link for that, figure it out yourself)

Mosaics: Beautiful, Broken, Open

Monday!

amyoes.com

“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.”

― J.M. Barrie, The Little Minister 

Art Challenge!
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” 
― Pablo Picasso
If Picasso said it, then it's true - Discover Inspire Create #17 is here!  Definitely head over to amyoes.com to subscribe for next week's...you can get some exclusive tips, crafts, inspiration and be part of my August Art Challenge - remember, you're an artist!

I'm excited to get back in the studio, now that we're back from our honeymoon and back to real life.

Newlyweds!

But not without a dose of island life in our souls...

Take me back Aruba...

 And now we come back to the states, married.  Different, but still the same.

Hey we're in the paper!

That idea of returning home but differently reminded me of my own personal journey.  I woke up from a coma very different from the Amy I knew before.  It took every second of the past decade to reassemble who I was.  I'm still not done.  But the beauty is, I can keep adding, revising and tinkering as I go.  I'll never recreate the same Amy.  But I like who I am now.  Who really wants to recreate their 18 year old selves anyway?  Or is even able to?

 I've used the metaphor before of a mosaic - and I love that idea.  Something beautiful, that once shattered, can never be put back together the same way.  But when it's reassembled it's still beautiful - a broken beauty - different, but still breathtaking all the same.

My first essay for HUFFINGTON POST!!!! talks about that a bit.

Read it!

 (sorry, very excited - I've been pitched thousands of times - well maybe not thousands....never give up!!!)

There is something very beautiful about the cracks in the pavement, the cracks in shattered glass, in broken fragments of seaglass.  What is broken is beautiful.  Nature shows us that.
<Click To Tweet!>

One of my favorite books is titles "Broken Open" - How difficult times can help us grow.

How have difficult times allowed you to grow?

It's true - sometimes cracking the "seal" is the only way to liberate ourselves and find out who we really are.  

Imagine yourself being "broken open" right now, at this very minute.  An egg cracking, a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, a broken glass at a wedding - whatever that means to you.

Imagine the shell, the container that you once found warmth, home and comfort in - or perhaps the container that was preventing you from breaking free.

Now, feel the burst of color, of sound, of light that overflows from those cracks.  All of those beautiful hues of your aliveness, finally breaking free.  That's what being "broken open" means to me.

Through creating, we discover that there are actually many colors, rhythms, shapes, emotions and worlds inside of us that would have never come to light had we not allowed ourselves to become shattered.

Imagine the beautiful ripples that continue for miles and miles when we toss one small stone into a body of water.  Now remember the stillness that would have kept the water silent, had the surface never been broken open.

It's a wondrous thing to have leaks, scars, tears, broken bits.  And it's an amazing feeling to start putting together those pieces once again.

I never enjoyed puzzles as a child.  I thought the task was tedious, redundant and quite boring.  Why would I want to spend hours trying to get random pieces to fit together exactly, when I can just look at the picture on the front of the box and know precisely what my end result will be?

(Although I guess you can also argue that it's pointless to read Romeo and Juliet if you know they'll both die - SPOILER ALERT!)

But I guess my kind of puzzle - the mixed media artist's preference, one might say - is to take those pieces, and rearrange them into something different, but still beautiful.  A beautiful mosaic.  Like me.  Shattered, put together with the experience of a true survivor, and creating a finished product that is nothing like what I started with - and also nothing like I had ever anticipated.

But...

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
― Allen Saunders

Today, think about whatever you feel is "broken" in your life.  Something didn't go as you planned - it could be a life-altering event, or you could have ordered the wrong burger - suffering is relative :)  Find the broken pieces of your life.

Imagine how you once felt as a "whole"...what gave you that feeling?  For me, I feel whole when I feel my heart.  And I feel my heart when I'm with those I love, when I'm doing what I love, when I feel love for my body, and gratitude for the life I live.

Finding that place of wholeness is NOT like a boardgame where by the end, you have to land exactly where you started.  The wonderful thing about your heart is, it's everywhere you are. <Tweet this!>

Have a great day...and don't forget to take your heart with you.  Spend today making beautiful mosaics out of unexpected events, disappointing setbacks and other random surprises.  What kind of new masterpiece will YOU create?

(A beautiful new masterpiece, different, but beautiful all the same.)

“I try not to make plans. God always laughs at your plans. I’m going to keep the door open, and keep the page blank, and see what gets painted upon it.”

― Tom Hiddleston

That's how I happened to meet my husband - definitely didn't plan that one!

 Before I Go...
Okay, I sort of lied - I like SOME puzzles, but more like brain-teasers - are you smart enough to get these?  (I didn't say it, Buzzfeed did.)