Day 250

All Saints Day at church. I talked about Wendell and his silliness while we were in the choir. They sang the saints song with his “killed by a fierce wild priest” line. It was fun. I hope he knew it was happening in his memory. I didn’t walk outside yesterday and missed it. Between the rain and an energy slump, I was grounded. Today will be better. It was a good soaking rain and this morning is cool and clear.

senior News column

One day when I went into the day-room at the Surf senior apartments two women were sitting together, talking, and coloring in their adult coloring books. Later my friend Susanne called to tell me about her new coloring book that featured zentagle type designs. By now I am intrigued by the idea of adult coloring books. I looked them up on my computer and found several sites and a lot of variety. I ordered a couple for myself: one called Entangled and one called Balance that was suggested by my friend Barbara. My kitchen table holds, crayons, pens, pencils, and a good light. Now all I needed was a friend to sit and color with me. That was easy to achieve and along with cups of tea, we found a relaxing experience. Maybe it brings back memories of childhood enjoyment, a rainy afternoon spent coloring companionably and quietly with a good friend.

Christian themed adult coloring books are many and varied from stained glass windows to psalms, to stories and expressions of joy. Coloring could easily move to creating one’s own drawing and coloring.

I already liked to zentangle and decided to draw my own coloring pages with pens and pencils. It seemed like the natural next step to coloring in a book. All it takes is paper and imagination to create interesting designs. Zentangle instruction is also available on line. Once the basics are learned, it’s open to original drawing. I enjoyed sharing the how-to part with my friends. It is easy to fill a page with the designs and then fill the spaces with color. 

From coloring books to creating coloring pages led to exploring drawing in other ways. I found drawing instruction on line. There are free classes offered and the materials are already around from the coloring fun. All it takes is paper and tools such as pencils and pens. Now I had the opportunity to make use of my creative ideas and explore right here at my kitchen table. There are drawing classes at the community college and that is another way to be inspired. Those classes would offer more choices of materials and methods of putting ideas on paper. Once I took  lessons with children at the art gallery. I was able to try out watercolor, acrylics, charcoal, pastels and the kids didn’t mind. It’s always time to get creative. All it takes is desire.