There’s a new craze going around at the moment: colouring-in books for adults. It’s supposed to be good for stress levels, a calming pastime and a bit of quirky fun.
The cynic in me says it’s to bolster flagging sales of coloured pencils, due to everyone being on their smart phones and computers.
We bought this colouring-in book of cities as my husband, who is a maths teacher, thought it could be useful in a class situation. (I think he really likes colouring in, despite being colour blind).
This week, let’s explore the creative potential of limits, borders, and dividers of all types.
As you know when colouring in you must stay within the lines, or boundaries, and so I offer this photo for this week’s photo challenge. The theme this week is boundaries and for more examples of posts for the challenge you can click this link.
Boundaries impose limits on us, whether they’re social constructs or real, physical objects… They’re there to stop us from doing or saying what we actually want to. But they also give structure to our actions and frame our movements. In photography, they help our eyes make sense of what we see and convey a sense of visual narrative. They constantly invite us to push against them.
So too with colouring-in, it makes us stay within the lines although we really would like to push against them at times and just scribble away!
Enjoy the weekend everyone! It’s so warm here which is just delightful considering it’s a long weekend.
Deb
Deb's World 
Looks like an interesting colouring-in book.
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Good idea for the challenge. I was rubbish at this when I was small and don’t have any reason to think I’d be any better now. 🙂
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Haha! Thanks for the comment 🙂
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I like colour, and creating images / pictures / patterns that are colourful, so an adult colouring book sounds just up my street. I also like cities, so that book of yours looks excellent. A good take on the prompt, Deb… and thanks for giving me food for thought!
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Thanks Tom, I appreciate your kind words and am glad to give food for thought. It was what appealed to me when I saw the prompt 🙂
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These coloring books are really taking hold. I need to by one! I always need therapy 😉
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Apparently thy are very good therapy – I’m sure you’d love it.
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Clever idea! I think you’re right about what’s really behind the craze but I too always liked coloring. May have to try it!
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Thanks Tina, I was being a bit cynical with my comment but am glad that you are thinking of giving it a go.
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When I was teaching, I used to leave torn out pages from coloring books in the back of the room. If a student finished his work early, they could color. It’s amazing how focused some of the students would get when it’s quiet and they are coloring.
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I know, it’s one of those things that people like to do and it is very relaxing. Thanks for your visit and comment.
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I just finished my first adult coloring piece yesterday! It WAS calming…but I found it sucked up a LOT of time, they are so intricate. But I suppose hours spent coloring are not that different than hours spent surfing the web. Maybe better for you. Glad your husband is pushing his boundaries!
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You are right there Dawn!! Time has a way of disappearing when you are engrossed in something, like the internet, colouring in!! So glad yo hear you enjoyed your colouring in session and that you found it so calming. Maybe I should give it a go, we’ve just had wedding trials with my daughter and her bridesmaids, so I need some therapy!! Thanks for visiting.
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I’ve seen them at all the airport shops and wondered what it would be like. I can imagine it would be quite therapeutic.
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Hi there – yes they are now everywhere you look and so many varieties are available. I think I need to get some, it’s been quite hectic lately.
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I was thinking the same thing 😊
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Interesting trend….I had heard about it but didn’t really give much attention to it.
It was a good interpretation for the challenge, though.
Have a great weekend!
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Thanks Lucile, they are very popular here and on many different subjects. We have just had the bride to be home for the weekend with her bridesmaids for hair and makeup trials – I think we could all enjoy a relaxing session with our coloured pencils right about now 🙂
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Colouring in was mentioned in a ‘Building Resilient Worker’ workshop I attended recently. Before then I was a bit sceptical about it, but since the trainer was on the ball with everything else I’ve changed my mind on it, I guess it’s no different to other mindfulness pastimes. However it can be dangerous! Recently my niece damaged her knee and had to have a full reconstruction. I asked her how she did it knowing she is a gym goer. I expected her to say bench pressing or doing squats or something but no. She did it colouring in! The phone rang and she went to jump up from the floor where she was colouring in to answer the phone (she’s in her 30s but says flopping down on the floor colouring in is very relaxing for her). In the process of jumping up she damaged her knee cap. So there you go – can be dangerous. (She has never lived this down but fortunately she has a wonderful sense on humour and laughs about it too).
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Wow, that’s a bit funny, I would never have expected such a result from a colouring in session 🙂 It’s amazing how many people are talking about mindfulness and the many forms it can take. Thanks for sharing your insights, I really appreciate it.
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