Saturday 3 October 2015

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Review: Colour Me Mindful Series - Underwater, Birds and Tropical by Anastasia Catris

Colour Me Mindful Series by Anastasia Catris (review copies)

Colour Me Mindful Series by Anastasia Catris

These intricate and beautifully detailed line drawings are ready for you to bring to life. Relieve stress, practice your mindfulness, and discover your creative side as you unplug and slow down by filling these exquisite pages with colour.

No matter our age, useful mindfulness techniques can help re-center us amidst a world of noisy stimuli constantly vying for our attention. Colouring can act like a tranquil meditation—relax and unwind with this calming colouring book for adults featuring beautifully detailed line drawings and designs of soothing ocean motifs.
From Goodreads.

I've really been into colouring lately, so when I first heard about the Colour Me Mindful Series by Anastasia Catris, I knew I had to give them a go. Full of such beautiful illustrations, this series will give you hours of entertainment.

Colour Me Mindful Underwater - Coloured
From Colour Me Mindful Underwater

Colour Me Mindful Underwater - Example
From Colour Me Mindful Underwater

This first Colour Me Mindful collection includes Underwater, Birds and Tropical colouring books. Each book starts with an introduction (the same introduction in each book) from Oli Doyle, who is the author of Mindfulness Plain & Simple and Mindfulness for Life. Oli talks about how the rushing about of day-to-day life can cause stress and exhaustion, but focusing on the moment "as it is" will  help you to relieve your stress, and bring more happiness to your life.
"As you colour with focus and attention, your stress will start to fade. As you watch closely to stay within the lines, your worries will lessen. And as you lose yourself in the wonders of colour and creativity, your surroundings will come alive and seem a little brighter. [...] Learning to focus and enjoy simple things like colouring once more can lead to the happiness everyone deserves." (p1-2)
I must admit that I do find myself lost in the moment when colouring, my mind devoid of all thought except what colours to use for which section, which shades would be most realistic (which is as I prefer to colour), and time flies by. So there might be something to mindfulness and colouring, however, I wouldn't say that it made my surroundings come alive and seem brighter.

Colour Me Mindful Birds - Coloured
From Colour Me Mindful Birds

Colour Me Mindful Birds - Example
From Colour Me Mindful Birds

The illustrations in the book are wonderful. They're so gorgeous and detailed, it's almost worrying considering adding colour, in case I "ruin" them. There are a range of illustrations, from quite realistic to patterned depending on your mood and - if you're me - what you feel capable of without feeling overwhelmed. I find just looking at some of the detailed illustrations - in any colouring book -  cause my eyes to go strange and start to give me a headache because there are just too many details. The simpler illustrations work better for me, but if you like a challenge, there's something for you, too.

Colour Me Mindful Tropical - Coloured
From Colour Me Mindful Tropical

Colour Me Mindful Tropical - Example
From Colour Me Mindful Tropical

I tried giving felt tips a go in Underwater, and I'm not sure. I don't know whether it's the way I colour, or if it's the felt tips themselves, but I just don't think it looks very good, I don't like the affect, hence the picture below being incomplete. As you can see, there's an illustration on both sides of a page, and unfortunately the felt tips I used bled through to the other side a little bit. If you want to use felt tips in these books, make sure you're sure the colour won't bleed through, first.

Colour Me Mindful Underwater - Coloured with Felt Tips
From Colour Me Mindful Underwater

Colour Me Mindful Underwater - felt tips bled
From Colour Me Mindful Underwater

Overall, a really fantastic, gorgeous collection! I'm really looking forward to trying out the second collection, which includes

Thank you to Orion for the review copies.

Add the Colour Me Mindful Series to Goodreads by clicking the images below.

Colour Me Mindful Underwater  colour me mindful birds Colour Me Mindful Tropical

Published: 30th July 2015 Publisher: Orion Books
Anastasia Catris' Website
 

4 comments:

  1. Oh these are some really nice illustrations. I love the adult coloring books. I have The Secret Garden Coloring Book and The Big Book of Mandelas Coloring Book. Lovely coloring. I'm glad to see that these bought you great happiness.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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    1. I enjoyed them, but I wouldn't say they brought me great happiness. They are fun, though. I have the Artist's Edition of Secret Garden, which I really like, and recently reviewed. Colouring is my kind of thing, I've found. Especially if I'm listening to a podcast!

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  2. I have been curious about these books as well. I just ordered the Secret Garden Coloring book but I have been wanting to try out the Color Me Mindful books as well.

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    Replies
    1. I recently reviewed the Artist's Edition of Secret Garden. I love both, but they are ver different. I kind of feel like it's ok to go wrong with Colour Me Mindful, where are with Secret Garden, the illustrations are so intricate and beautiful, I worry about ruining them! Haha!

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