This gal and I take our happy places very seriously. And we have many.

We want to know where your happy places are? (I’ll tell ya why in a minute, so be thinking about it…)

I am almost finished with my drawings for my grownup coloring book. Somehow, I got on a roll and have been creating away. Then I was close enough to finish my self-imposed quota of drawings to think that maybe, just maybe, I could pull it together in time to publish it for this holiday season. Then…I got very excited!

It would make a really fun gift!

My drawings are of happy places and those are the kinds of things I want to color.

But, I have a feeling that creating the pictures will be the least of my troubles. Figuring out the technology and details of getting it “print-worthy” and “by the rules” is where my troubles may begin. Nonetheless, if I am this close, I will give it my all.

I am about one or two drawings away from finished. I start with a pencil draft then I need to go over the pencil marks in black so that they stand out. Then, I need to erase the pencil marks, scan the drawings into Photoshop to do away with any stray marks and save them.

Here is a half-finished drawing from pencil to black ink.

I have discovered that my best tools are a soft lead pencil, a pink eraser, plain copy paper and one of my kid’s paint brushes to brush off the eraser bits. It was a bit disappointing because I got myself set up with some fancy art supplies and I was fully prepared to be a “real artist” only to find that some of those supplies did not perform the way that I wanted them to and the basic stuff did. Ain’t that something.

Ok, so, I want to make one or two more drawings and I have a few ideas in mind, but my creative brain cells have been split between this coloring book and the local newspaper’s holiday cookie contest that is due next week. As of last weekend, I still wasn’t entirely sure if I would participate this year, but I am “all in” for the three cookies that I can submit so my mind is busy testing and creating and my bakery belly is busy eating and judging. And running and walking.

My brain is curious to see where your happy places are. If I can figure out how to draw them, they just might end up in my coloring book.

And to thank you for your ideas, I am sharing one of the coloring pages from my “soon-to-be” grownup coloring book with you so you can print it out and take a moment to veg out and color. The link to the printable is below.

https://theawkwardbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/color-page-thankful-fireplace-1.pdf

I am still debating if I want to add more to the walls. Part of my attention deficit issue with many of the coloring pages on the market is that they are so detailed that I am not interested in coloring them. If this becomes too busy, it defeats the point of me creating pages with less. My brain and I are still discussing it. But you can feel free to draw in anything that you want to add to the walls.

All righty, me and my studio gal are off to taste test some cookies!