Coloring for Calm, Focus and Fun

Can you believe how big coloring books are now for adults? A slow build and now a big explosion. A few years ago I first spied them on Amazon when looking for childrens' gifts and I bought a book of "stained glass" designs (on tracing paper with thick black outlines) for myself. I colored just one and kept it in the window next to my desk until I moved. I'm not sure where that book is now.

Then last year a client showed me the zentangles she's been drawing. And now in the last couple of months a handful of my clients and Facebook followers have mentioned using coloring as an aid to help keep them occupied and calm and not picking.

Artist Liz Atkin, who talks about how art helps her in recovering from compulsive skin picking and anxiety, draws constantly now in colored pastels, leaving drawings all over public transport in London, UK.

For the rest of us less "artistically able" we can still have fun with color and our hands too, in a way that's healthy and non-destructive. It really seems like these coloring books are everywhere now, advantageous timing with the holiday gift-giving season. I even saw a Game of Thrones coloring book in an airport bookstore a few weeks ago.

My sister in law Tanya is addicted to a coloring app she has on her phone. She also has a regular coloring book she does when she can't sleep. So when we were at Michaels a while ago, I bought my first coloring book in a while. Then the night after Thanksgiving when we were enjoying some coloring (not to mention food, wine and a nice fire!) we decided to Periscope about it. I edited it down into a YouTube video. Tanya is a coloring expert so we discuss how it helps her calm down her anxiety and get ready for sleep, plus she explains coloring iPhone and iPad apps and shows us which is the best of the twenty(!) she's tried.

It's somewhat addictive, and after not doing much the first couple of months that I had a coloring book, in the last few weeks I've finished two tessellation patterns and am working on a kitty picture from my cat coloring book!

Have you tried coloring lately? Do you like it? Share your favorite books and/or apps in the YouTube comments.