Several friends have embraced the latest adult colouring-in craze.
Kim, who claims not to have a creative bone in her body, says it is therapeutic and that she enjoys the challenge of choosing appropriate colours and seeing the end result.
She jokes that she is considering laminating her results to make placemats and gifts to give her fussy family for Christmas. But overseas, the fad has really captured people’s imaginations.
In mid-October, a Daily Mail article about WH Smith, a UK retailer whose core business is much like that of our news agencies CNA and PNA cited the “new phenomenon of colour therapy for adults” as one of the main reasons behind its strong second half for its high street business.
Profits from this division were up 2% to £59 million (more than R1 billion) in the year to August 31.
It seems people wanting to de-stress and spend time away from electronic devices were hooked.
Amazon UK also recently highlighted the growing trend, when it said five of its top 10 best-sellers were adult colouring books.
Many psychologists pooh-pooh the benefits of adult colouring-in, saying they would never consider it, but a Guardian article referred to several people who had seen benefits, including 52-year-old American pre-school teacher, Debra Dettone, who was suffering from anxiety and high blood pressure.
After becoming an adherent of the colouring trend and doing “a little bit of walking” her blood pressure reading apparently improved.
She ascribed this to her colouring-in activities, which helped her unwind.
Those touting the benefits say colouring helps people achieve mindfulness, banish anxiety, and even deal with trauma.
I’m not sure I’d go as far as to recommend colouring as a psychological treatment, and there doesn’t seem to be any factually-based research to support the theory, but there is certainly something to be said for the idea that it allows people with no real artistic bent to self-express, at least insofar as they are experimenting with colour.
And it allows people to get lost in their own thoughts, something we seldom make time for in our busy, non-stop lives. Apparently there are also some books which include blank spots where people are able to add their own elements.
This strikes me as an interesting way to get people to further their artistic talents.
An article by Jayme Kinsey points out that colouring books help us reconnect with our inner child. Colouring for children stimulates imagination, introduces them to different shades of colours, and enhances motor skills.
Pondering this, it is worth noting that typing and using sewing machines are not quite the same as doing the tasks by sewing by hand or writing, as one might have done to pass the time in days of yore, so this seems a valid benefit of the pastime – making it ideal for, especially, the elderly.
Aside from enhancing motor skill function, colouring might even combat cognitive loss, especially if minute pieces are chosen.
If you’ve seen some of the repetitive designs and mandalas available in these books, you’ll understand how challenging they could prove if you’re intent on maintaining a colour theme or pattern and not just colouring randomly.
Kinsey maintains colouring books can teach about art, and having nurtured an artist who gets excellent marks for the subject, I’m inclined to agree.
Line art teaches about things like horizons and cartooning.
Also, artists actually use line art to give themselves an overall picture of where to place the paint when creating a scene.
As you colour a page, you also notice detail, something most artists will agree is essential in what they do – adult books often have finer details than children’s books, and in teaching my son about art, attention to detail was one of the things I emphasised. You’re also compelled to think about aspects such as layering of colour to create images.
But the way I see it, “zoning out”, letting your mind wander and forgetting the stresses of life for a bit are the greatest benefit to any modern adult.
Relaxation helps lower blood pressure. It lessens anxiety, reduces tension headaches, and relieves digestive upsets.
The grown-up themes and motifs of The Creative Colouring Book for Grown-ups/Kreatiewe Inkleurboek vir Grootmense, books 4 and 5 are largely flora and fauna-related, but a quick session online reveals colouring books in all sorts of themes, from art reproductions to landscapes.
I like to use pencil crayons, while my pal, Kim, prefers kokis, and has managed to come up with one of her most artistic shaded results by using an almost-spent felt tip.
Letting go of inhibitions is what it’s all about and I couldn’t wait to get started.
I have a sneaking suspicion I got a better night’s sleep after an hour of colouring, so maybe there’s some merit to this anti-anxiety theory.
Jump on the bandwagon. You may enjoy it.
But if you’re one of those who thinks the world has gone mad and is simply avoiding real literature with these childish endeavours, you might want to look up Giramondo publisher and academic Ivor Indyk’s scathing essay on adult colouring in from the Sydney Review of Books.
The Creative Colouring Book for Grown-ups by Michael O’Mara Books is published by Human and Rousseau