Coloring books, once a favorite pastime for children, captivated adults around the world as a way to relieve stress. Regardless of what you feel about this phenomenon, coloring books for adults  pushed their way to bestseller status soaring to 12 million being sold in 2015.

Although sales for coloring books for adults have slowed, publishers at the Toy Fair expressed belief there is still a market for them. Adults looking for stress relief still find coloring an affordable and easily-accessible way to quiet the mind. 

Not to be left out of the trend, I published Color Your Life Happy Coloring Book for Adults and enjoyed a book signing at my local Starbucks.

Coloring books for adults are not new.

In the early 20^th century, noted psychologist Carl G. Jüng had his patients color mandalas, geometric designs that have their origin in India.

Then there were the political coloring books of the 1960’s that made fun of an array of social concerns such as  J.F.Kennedy, the red scare, mental illness and  communists.

“Dover Publications, founded in 1941 publishing reissues, created their first coloring book for adults , Antique Automobiles Antique Automobiles Coloring Book, in 1970,”said Vice President of Marketing, Kristine Anderson in a phone conversation.

Where did the recent adult coloring book craze begin?

In 2013, UK-based Scottish artist and illustrator Johanna Basford convinced her editor there was a market for coloring book for adults, so they allowed to create one. Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book was her first and sold over a million copies.

Following her success, adult coloring book sales from many publishers exploded at online retailers, as well as brick and mortar hobby, art supply, fabric and discount stores.   Coloring books for adults were popping up everywhere. The Lonely Planet coloring book showed up at  my local Automobile Club, and major merchants had not only coloring books, but planners, notecards, apparel and more. Popular series such as Outlander, Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter were soon publishing their own themed coloring books. Even serious artworks like Thomas Kinkade produced coloring books inviting us to try our version of these popular art pieces.

What helped the adult coloring book sales skyrocket?

Noticing a growing interest in coloring books,  Dover created a new line, Creative Haven, in 2012. This  series has over 100 titles with themes ranging from mandalas to fashion. In 2015 Dover declared August 2^nd  National Coloring Book Day and encouraged colorists to host coloring parties. One of those coloring book party hosts was Chicago resident Mary-Winters-Myers.

Seeing the growing interest among other colorists, Mary started a public Facebook group in January 2015 and published her own coloring book, Dragons, Knots, Bots and More!, in April 2015.

By April the membership of her Facebook group had grown to 300.  She was interviewed for an NBC nightly News story on coloring, and even though her segment didn’t get aired, 175 people a day began flocking to her Facebook group quickly taking her membership to 17,000. At last count her group has 44,345 members.

Social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest helped to fuel the flames of the coloring book trend. As groups of adults gather in local neighborhood coffee shops, libraries, parks and any venue with space for tables and chairs, colorists are gathering and later framing and displaying their work.

Is coloring beneficial for adults?

Coloring relieves stress and lessens anxiety.

Lucy Fyles, former UK psychiatric inpatient nursing assistant, for example, was seeking comfort for her own severe anxiety disorder. She discovered that focusing on creative activities calmed and relieved her anxiety.  While working with psychiatric patients, she saw that they enjoyed using coloring books.  Now housebound, she reviews adult coloring books from her blog 

As the trend continued, filling in pretty designs with owls, cats, and mandalas just doesn’t do it for everybody. That’s why coloring books with swear words shot to the top of the online coloring book sales.

Coloring promotes co-creation with the artist.

Canadian artist Steve McDonald  talked about moving from fabulous cityscapes in art galleries to coloring books.  It was the urging of his children that caused him to embrace creating coloring books as a way to get colorists to become co-creators. Instead of creating just one piece of art to hang in a gallery, he is reaching people around the world.

Coloring promotes wellness by helping people loosen up.

Colorado resident Tammi Hoerner earned a degree in graphic design but started a career as a wellness coach instead. After writing her print book Lessons for Mom Positive Living – Attainable Wellness for Modern Moms she searched for tools to help her clients laugh, play and have fun.  The result are two complementary coloring books.

Is coloring harmful for adults?

Coloring masquerades as psychotherapy or art therapy.

Everyone is not convinced of the healing benefits of adult coloring. In a  Psychology Today article,  Cathy Malchiodi, art therapist and psychotherapist,  said, “While I have no doubt that many colorists “feel better” after a session with a coloring book and even a group coloring fest, it is not art therapy by any definition.”

Coloring distracts us from facing the real world problems.

Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason,” looks to the bible line, ‘When I was a child, I thought as a child, but as an adult, I put away childish things,’  to support her belief that coloring books promote escapism and keep us from facing the world around us.

Coloring mandalas unknowingly opens the doors to demons.

While some religious groups embraced the coloring book trend and published their own versions, others warned us against them, especially mandalas which they believe opens the doors to demons.

Coloring patterns and designs created by others is not true art.

Even though coloring book creators promise you don’t have to stay within the lines, purists believe that true art is created on a blank sheet or canvas using the imagination of the artist and his favorite tools.

Where are we now with coloring for adults?

There are still 32 groups listed on meetup.com for coloring for adults in my county.
There are 90+ Facebook groups under coloring books for adults.
There are loads of coloring pages on Pinterest and Etsy.
Some libraries still have weekly coloring clubs.

Now it’s your turn to confess where you stand on the coloring book trend. Did you miss the start of the party? Do you see benefits or harm to coloring for adults? Enter your comments in Speak Your Mind below.

Our first Christmas tree–1969

It wasn’t until I read a post by another blogger about her less-than-perfect Christmas tree, that I began to reflect on my own tree story.

My mother and father always put up our tree on Christmas Eve while my two sisters and I were asleep. You see the first room of our house was my mother’s beauty shop until she finished her last customer on Christmas Eve. When we awoke on Christmas morning the tree would be up, decorated and have presents all around it. My parents must have been up all night creating this transformation and assembling toys. Even though we were asleep just on the other side of a makeshift wall my father had built to turn one big room into two, we slept very soundly in our eagerness to make Christmas arrive as quickly as possible.

As I grew up I admired the Christmas trees in movies and Macy’s window and longed to have my own Christmas tree that would be up for many weeks for me to enjoy leading up to Christmas Day. It would be a real tree, like the one I had as a child, but it would be taller and lavishly decorated like the ones in the department stores.

In the early days of my marriage our tree was indeed a real tree. I insisted on it. It was about 6-7 ft. tall, but the decorating was not very inspired. I draped the typical tinsel and hung the ornaments, but was never thrilled with the results. As I began to have children, getting the toys, books and cookies baked became more important than the tree. We always had the real tree, but while it was decorated to the kids’ satisfaction, I always longed for more.

My husband was content with our tree because he preferred simplicity and often viewed me as being too flamboyant. (Can you be “too” flamboyant? Isn’t flamboyant enough said?)

After I became a widow and moved to a new house, I began to grow disenchanted with a real tree. After a few weeks of burning lights in it and the drying effects of the fireplace, I began to worry disproportionately about the potential for fire. A three-week-old real Christmas tree loses its vibrant green color, gets brittly and begins to droop.  Besides, my older two children were off on their own, and the remaining younger two were even less interested in decorating the tree than they were before. Decorating the tree became my holiday focus and project.

Although I wanted the fragrance of a real tree, I eventually succumbed to investing in an artificial tree, a 9 ft. tall one, eventually the prelit one. To maintain the illusion of the real tree I put potted rosemary around the tree. In recent years I’ve switched back and forth between the real tree and the artificial one.

After giving thought to my over forty years of Christmas tree decorating, I’ve discovered a few things my Christmas tree says about me.

1. I can be just as shallow as the next person, choosing appearance over authenticity.

Even though I love the fragrance of a real tree, I have fluctuated between having an artificial, perfectly-shaped tree that I could control and a real tree. I could decorate the artifical tree heavily without branches breaking and could enjoy for the whole month of December without worry about a fire. I took pride in decorating so well that without very close inspection, visitors couldn’t tell if it was real or not. Family and friends never know which type I will decide to use.

My 2009 tree. Is it real or artificial?

2. I’m influenced by beauty wherever I find it thus creating an eclectic theme.

To get ideas on decorating my tree I observed Christmas trees in stores and offices wherever I go, as well as combed the Internet. One year while spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii I spotted a Christmas tree configuration that was about 12 feet of poinsettia. Every year since then I’ve included poinsettia as part of my decorations.

Another year I didn’t want to display my Christmas cards on the wall as I once had, so I stuck them in the tree. Beautiful!

Even when I use a prelit artificial tree with white lights, still I add a few more strings of multicolored blinking lights. I like fullness (are you starting to think I’m flamboyant too?)

My ornament collection is extensive and yet I like to add something new from the after-Christmas sales or unique items I find on vacation. Some of my favorite finds are a Cloissone Christmas boot ornament from my visit to a factory in China, some elongated stylized angels from Pier Imports an after Christmas sale, two USC Santa hat ornament gifts from my son, and a Peet’s coffee mug ornament from my walking buddy. (I told you I was eclectic.)

3. Tradition and nostalgia are very important to me, but I am practical too.

Although I admire the themed trees I see in craft stores and other places every season, I prefer to display the multitude of ornaments my children and grandchildren made over the years as well as the many ornaments my coworkers gave me as gifts during twenty years at my last teaching position. Since this wide assortment of keepsake ornaments are many colors, I stick mainly to red and gold ribbon and other enhancements.

One year I tried weaving a candy-cane-striped ribbon throughout the tree, but it seemed to disrupt the look, so I removed it and used a wide gold netting instead. Exquisite!

I could never see the sense of using those Christmas tree skirts they sell in the stores. They were too small and since the gifts were going to cover them, why invest in them in something where you wouldn’t see the design. Instead, I put a large red tablecloth around the base of the tree. It did the trick and are very affordable from discount stores.

Sitting on the floor in front center of the tree is our very first nativity set. It’s 40 years old and missing the wise men. One by one, over the years, the wise men lost their heads,  got cracked on the sides, and eventually disappeared altogether.

It’s absolutely amazing that Mary, Joseph and Jesus survived the rough handling of my children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren over the years. That proves that they are indeed Holy.

Even the shepherd boy, a lamb a donkey and oxen are intact. No matter what my Christmas tree says about me, the important thing is that I’m now thrilled with it each year. It always recalls many happy memories of the past, embraces the joy of the present and brings hope for the future as well.

This is my 2015 tree.

What does your Christmas tree reveal about you?

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You’ll enjoy similar stories in Color Your Life Happy: Create Your Unique Path and Claim the Joy You Deserve, 2nd edition. Available at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/florabfyn and other major booksellers. [/feature_box]

Adrienne took her beloved doll everywhere. Shown here during a visit to her grandma.

When we think back to holiday memories, even ones that were frustrating at the time, we can boost our happiness year-round. Our memories soften and sweeten over the years and sometimes become precious keepsakes long after the material things have faded or disappeared.

In my book,  Color Your Life Happy: Create Your Unique Path and Claim the Joy You Deserve,” (now available on Amazon)  at the end of each chapter I share what I call happiness flashbacks.  Here is one of them.

HAPPINESS FLASHBACK: Christmas Gifts

I bought Christmas gifts and toys for my children all year round when things were on sale and available. Then I hid their toys in various places all over the house. One Christmas morning after the kids had opened their toys and were happily playing with them, I remembered I had neglected to put one toy under the tree.

Oh, no!

The Cabbage Patch doll my youngest wanted so much was still in the far back of my closet. How was I going to handle this and maintain the Santa Claus myth?

While the kids were busy playing away from the tree, I quickly retrieved the Cabbage Patch doll from her hiding place and put her under the tree, then placed other boxes and packaging around her.

Then I called out to my youngest. “Did you get everything from under the tree?”

“Yes.”

“There still seems to be something under the tree—over there in the back.”

“No,” she said impatiently. “I got everything,”

“Come and take another look.”

“Okay.” She was clearly annoyed. She walked toward the tree and reached underneath, pushing aside the camouflage.

“How did this get here?” she cried out as she picked up the Cabbage Patch doll.

“I guess you just didn’t see it,” I replied, trying to look innocent.

She was so happy to get her doll that she didn’t care.

Can you think of a holiday memory from years past that makes you smile or laugh? Share it in the Comments.

Color Your Life Happy, 2nd Edition, now available on Amazon

Enjoy the print or Kindle version where I  share how I and others make choices in keeping with their higher purpose and draw lessons and strength from sadness, grief, and adversity that create a unique life path. Weaving together findings from the field of positive psychology, ancient wisdom, self-help advice, personal experiences, and spiritual enlightenment, I offer practical and inspirational insight, strategies, and principles we can apply to embracing happiness and claiming the joy we deserve. Get your copy at http://tinyurl.com/florabfyn