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Relaxing Art Therapy Colouring Book
Art Therapy Colouring Books
Various -- Richard Merritt, Lizzie Preston, Sam Loman, Laura-Kate Chapman, Hannah Davies, Cindy Wilde

Michael O’Mara Books
7 April 2016/ ISBN 9781782434993
Non Fiction / Art / Colouring / Doodling / Drawing

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

 

Here is the fifth of these excellent coloring and doodling books, where you can “doodle and colour your stress away” as it says on the back. The work of several artists, there is something for a wide variety of tastes in here and 128 pages of it. I particularly love the large format of this series with its stiff heavy boards and way of opening almost flat. You won’t require a clipboard for this, and despite being printed both sides of the paper water-based pens don’t shadow much as this is above average paper. The paper has a smooth texture that is suited to pens and lacks the “tooth” desired by pencil users; like the rest of the series, this is more of a pen book and the colored backgrounds bear this out. These give the colorist stumped for inspiration a hint as to what to use, and make a great frame for the work. Pictures are mostly fairly detailed but have clear black lines varying from medium to thick so are easy to see. As with the rest of the series you can expect various animal images in here from the cat on the cover to a wolf, bear, horse, elephant and jellyfish to hippos, shells, monkeys and butterflies. They do not dominate the book however and there are also abstract patterns and images of people, cakes, a VW camper, buildings, Celtic knotwork, hot air balloons and plenty of flowers. One for men and women I would say, a nice mixture. As with others in the Art Therapy series this book is divided into two sections: the first, larger one entitled Colouring is filled with pictures to color in, the second is called Doodling and takes up the final two fifths of the book. Here there are pictures to finish, frames to draw inside and more, and rather more of this section than in all earlier books. This is my favorite part and I am pleased to see that it has been extended; it also is another factor that makes these books something special and a bit different to the rest. Highly recommended for all colorists.

Reviews of other books in this series

Calming Art Therapy Colouring Book - Hannah Davies, Richard Merritt and Cindy Wilde

If you cannot find a good range of coloring materials locally try www.searchpress.com for a list of suppliers.

UK Reviewer: Rachel Hyde's work can be found in Sewing World, Sew Hip, Popular Crafts and other magazines.
Reviewed 2016
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