"Tolkien's World" Coloring Book

Do you enjoy adult coloring books?  I'm kind of addicted to them.  Especially the ones related to some fandom or other that I love.  So it's no surprise that I own several Tolkien-inspired coloring books.  Today, I'm going to take you on a tour of Tolkien's World.  The coloring book version, anyway.

You can actually color the slipcover if you want.  There's a different picture underneath.

The first picture I colored in this was the one I totally bought it for, a portrait of Boromir.  I had so much fun layering different colors on to get his hair and cloak to please me.

The artwork in this book is from several different artists with very different styles.  For some reason, this Smaug picture makes me think of the 1970s.

Here's a lovely Rider of Rohan I colored last month.

There are quite a few two-page panoramic pictures in this, which are a total treat.  I love all the little details!

This slice of the Shire was incredibly fun.

And here are a few pictures I haven't gotten to yet, but am looking forward to.

Have you been enjoying my Tolkien Blog Party this year?  I hope so!  I've only read a smidgen of other people's posts so far, but they've been wonderful, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest!  If you haven't joined yet... what're you waiting for?

"Psalms to Color and Soothe the Soul" Coloring Book by Felicity French

Today is National Coloring Book Day!

To celebrate, I'm going to share one of my favorite adult coloring books with you: Psalms to Color and Soothe the Soul with artwork by Felicity French.

I've had this book for a couple of years now, but I'd only done two pictures in it until this summer.  I go through phases where I color regularly or don't color at all, sometimes for weeks or months.  Right now, I'm in the middle of one of the color-often phases, and I've been really drawn to this book for the past few weeks.

I love how intricate these drawings are!  And yet, they're not too busy.  It takes me a couple of sessions to color one picture, which I like because it prolongs the fun.

The pages of this book take colored pencils really well, which I appreciate.

The pages are thick enough you can use gel pens too.  I tend to get impatient with gel pens when coloring large areas, so I only use them for pages like this where I'm coloring lots of tiny areas:

And the pictures are only printed on one side of each sheet, so you can remove a page and share it or frame it if you want to.  I LOVE Psalm 46:10, and I love how this picture turned out, so I'm seriously considering framing it to hang in my bedroom:

Here's the page I started working on last night:

I tend to mostly color in the evening after my kids are in bed, while I'm watching a TV show of some sort.  It's a good way to unwind after a stressful day, and I have something pretty when I'm done!  This particular book has the added benefit of letting me meditate on a particular piece of Scripture while I'm coloring, which I really like.  There are lots and lots of pages I haven't gotten to yet, so I know I'll be enjoying this particular book for a long time yet.

Are you a fan of adult coloring books too?  If so, do you have favorite coloring books?

"Words of Wisdom: Quotes from Shakespeare" Coloring Poster Book

One of  my blogging goals for 2019 is to start reviewing adult coloring books again.  So today I'm reviewing the Words of Wisdom: Quotes from Shakespeare book of posters to color.  These are big sheets -- 9 1/2" x 12" and can be framed -- I love the bigger format!  I got this book from Usborne/Kane Miller here, and I'm not sure if it's available elsewhere or not.

The pages are thick like cardstock, so they're perfect for gel pens, which is what I've been using with it.  But if you're into pastels or watercolors, it would work really well with those too, I think.

They've got a nice selection of plays, not just the super-famous ones, and quotations on lots of different topics.  I'm highlighting two lines that involve love today, just cuz it IS We Love Shakespeare Week, after all.  

One of my favorite things about this book is that, on the back of each poster, it tells you a little about the play that line is from!  This is what's on the back of the "Love comforteth like sunshine after rain" poster above:

The posters are in a wide variety of styles.  There's only one with a line from Hamlet, and I haven't colored it yet, but it reminds me a little of Monty Python:

I'm saving this one to color in October because it's so Halloween-y:

This post is one of my contributions to We Love Shakespeare Week, which I'm hosting on my other blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy.  Come join the fun!

"Christmas: The Coloring Book of Cards and Envelopes" by Rebecca Jones

This is one of the coolest coloring-book concepts ever!  I have been having so much fun with this book!  It's exactly what it says:  a collection of Christmas cards with matching envelopes that you can color yourself to send to others.

I broke down and bought a pack of 24 gel pens to share with my kids for coloring these because I thought the vibrant colors would be especially awesome.  The paper in this book is really thick and takes the color beautifully!  

Here's the front of the first card I colored:

And here's the interior:

You can see they do two cards to a page, fronts and backs on one side of the sheet and interiors on the other.  You have to cut them apart when you're done with them, so I'm happy I have a nice paper-cutter to make the cuts straight.  But a scissors would work too.

Here's another one I colored. I did mostly gel pens for these, but some colored pencils too.  Does that make this "mixed media art" perhaps?

There are so many cute designs in here!  Lots with birds or animals.  I'm working on this one next: 

And then there are the envelopes.  They're in the back of the book, one for each card.  You color them first, and then cut them out and fold along scored lines to make an envelope.  The instructions for how to do this are on the inside cover of the book.  Here's the envelope that goes with the first card I colored:

Here's the one that goes with the second card:

They have dizzying patterns for the inside of the envelopes too, but... I didn't color them.  I mean, I don't have unlimited time, and I'd actually like to send off a few of these in time to reach my friends by Christmas.

So here's the first card inside its envelope:

The book comes with stickers to use to close the envelopes because they aren't adhesive in any way.  That works pretty well, though if you were sending them through the mail, I think you'd want to tape up the flaps a bit too.  I know I will.

This is the front of the envelope:

These cards and envelopes are really big -- the cards are 5"x5" and the envelopes are slightly bigger.  So if you send them through the mail, you will need extra postage.  The book makes 24 cards in all, and I'm going to let my kids color some of them to send to grandparents and so on.  But I'm coloring my favorites myself to give to a few particular friends!

"The Illuminated Catechism" Coloring Book by Tony Cook and Susan Spellman

It is HIGH time I reviewed another coloring book, don't you think?  Today I shall highlight The Illuminated Catechism, which pairs words from Martin Luther's Small Catechism with Bible verses and additional explanations by Tony Cook, devotional writing prompts, and gorgeous illustrations by Susan Spellman.  Of course, this is part of my on-going series on both my blogs about things related to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation beginning.

You know what an "illumination" is, right?  A very intricate, detailed drawing used to illustrate the Bible or other book, generally done back in the Middle Ages, but there are much older examples too.  If you want to learn more, this Wikipedia article might be helpful.  

So anyway, this coloring book takes that idea and kind of does a modern version.  The book is split into sections like the Small Catechism.  It begins with the Ten Commandments.

Each two-page spread pairs text and pictures -- the one above is for the third commandment, and in the picture above, you can see that it has the commandment, then Luther's explanation, then some more pondering, then a Bible verse.  Cut off in that picture is an area on the far left for you to write some of your own thoughts, kind of a mediational journal:

There's a huge variety of pictures, and not all of them are "church-related" at first glance.  But they all make sense with what the opposite page is talking about once you read through it.

After the Ten Commandments, we have the Apostle's Creed and an explanation thereof.

Then comes the Lord's Prayer.

I can't wait to color this illustration for the fourth petition, "Give us this day our daily bread."  Aren't those sheep cute?

This is the first picture I colored in this book.  I used colored pencils for this one, though the other pages I've colored are done with some new gel pens I got for my kids.  

After the Lord's Prayer comes a section on the Sacraments, and then this cool part on all sorts of different prayers.  They have Martin Luther's morning and evening prayers, but then space to write down some things of your own. 

There's also a page about vocation that talks about our duties as children of God.  I really want to color this illustration soon too.

And at the end, there's a section about the three main "solas" of the Reformation:  Sola Gratia (by grace alone), Sola Fide (by faith alone), Sola Scriptura (by scripture alone).  I'm hoping to post more about these another day, probably on my Soliloquy blog instead.

"Color Me Jane" Coloring Book by Jacqui Oakley

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Here I am with another review of a coloring book!  To fit with the I Love Austen Week that I'm hosting right now, today I'm sharing Color Me Jane, with artwork by Jacqui Oakley.  This is a small book, only about 6" x 8", but it's got some beautiful artwork and has quickly become one of my favorite coloring books even though I only just got it in January!  The paper really takes color well, and the smaller size makes it easy to color on my lap while watching movies which... I totally did.  I watched both Emma (2009) and Sense and Sensibility (2008) (my first time for both!) while coloring appropriate pictures to match the films, and that was amazingly fun.

I colored this illustration of Emma first.  I like how it matches a scene from the 1996 adaptation in a way, but isn't simply a copy of that moment from the film. 

I had the most fun coloring all those different book spines!  I wanted a nice variety, but to have more blues and greens than anything else just to add some cohesion.  I loved coloring Mr. Knightley's chair too, as I layered it with two or three different colors to lend it some depth.  I love using multiple shades of colored pencil on top of each other to create new or deeper colors.

Next, I tackled this scene from Sense and Sensibility.  It's simpler, but has some cool movement, and I love how deep the room goes. 

There are several illustrations for each of Austen's six novels, and some of them match different movie versions, but others don't (or at least, I don't recognize some of them).  There are also pages of flowers, jewelry, and illustrated quotations.  Here are some I can't wait to color:

This has been another entry for the blogathon part of I Love Austen Week, which I'm hosting on my other blog.  The main post for that is here, with links to all the cool reviews and other posts that people have been contributing.  And do check out the giveaways, fill out the tag, and try your hand at the unscramble and the Quotation Quiz!