Weekly Coloring 2

For this weekly coloring assignment, I decided to use my Prismacolor pencils since I was so disappointed in the bleed through of the Copic markers in Week One. This was a fairly simple pattern to color. I used a red, a yellow, and two shades of orange. The pattern I chose was the following: red for the three item motif of two triangles and one square; yellow for the rhombus; light orange for the s-shaped motif, and medium orange for the solo square (sometimes divided in half on the diagonal). The idea was that the medium orange square was a culmination of all of the colors intersecting.

The below image is simply the color on the page.

The below image is the page with the colors blended with Gamsol. This blending fluid allows the colors to spread so the color evens out.

As you can see, nothing bleeds through to the other side. While there will be some discoloration on the reverse as the Gamsol evaporates, eventually everything will dry out and become clean. I sped up the process by drying it with an hot air gun (set on the lowest setting). I don't know if there will be any smudging on the reverse side if there is already writing on the side. In other words, if you have already written out a week's schedule, I don't know how the Gamsol will react with either the ink or marker. You might want to try a sample before using it.

Weekly Coloring 1

This is the first in the series of the Weekly Coloring Challenges where I will complete each week of The Mindfulness Coloring Engagement Calendar 2018. It seems that last week was a succulent week as they were featured here as well. 

I gravitated towards the same colors without duplicating them. I wanted to add some color so I colored the pots in contrasting colors to the succulents.

The colored page

The two page spread

The paper used here has a slightly glossy finish so the colors were fairly steadfast. They didn't feather after hitting the paper. They inks did bleed to the reverse side. I would be fairly upset if I was using this as a planner rather than a coloring book.

The reverse of the colored page.

I have to say that this is a particular pet peeve of mine when dealing with these coloring products. The distribution companies and the sellers should specify what media should be used with these products. This clearly is not suitable for alcohol ink markers.

I don't fault the artists on this particular matter because they have very little say on the production of the pieces. But the production company should send samples to the artist to test in order to make recommendations to the stores/buyers. If I bought this product in the store, I would have know exactly what was going on. Since I am reviewing these products and purchased them through Amazon, I have no idea of the quality of the product or paper which is why I am sharing my findings with you.

The pages might work with water based markers. They best medium will probably be colored pencils (with or without a blending solution, maybe). I don't think crayon would work well because of the glossy finish and waxy crayon. The paper didn't buckle with the wet nature of the markers but I don't know if I would recommend water colors. Watercolor pencils might work and a water brush might be the correct amount of liquid to spread the color. My next attempt will be my Prismacolor Pencils.

The only other significant aspect to mention is that the paper is a super-white or atomic/solar white color so you might need to adjust your color choices.

Happy New Year and New Year Resolutions/Goals

Happy New Year from the cold environs of New York City. After taking a break from blogging after the Coloring Across America Tour, I have returned today to share my new year's resolutions/goals  with you.

This year is going to be dedicated to Coloring. I will taking on a lot more coloring challenges this year. I will also be participating in Swaps and sending out more snail mail with more postcards and penpals. I also want to continue to develop better lettering styles.

Here are my specific goals this year:

• I want to finishing coloring the entire Nature Escapes Coloring Book by Crayola. I will share each image as it is complete. You can following the pages by viewing the label CrayolaNatureEscapes
• I plan on coloring each day and I plan on coloring in my Coloring 2018 Calendar (label DailyColoring).
• I also plan on completing each week of The Mindfulness Coloring Engagement Calendar 2018 by Emma Farrarons. I will experiment and evaluate with different media but will primarily color with Copic Markers (label WeeklyColoring).
• I hope to illustrate a daily quote from the book 365 Days of Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I have tried to do a daily motivation quote challenge but would spend so much time searching for quotes that I like that I would have little time for lettering. I ran across this book at Target and my hopes were answered. I don't know if I will post these every day. I might do a consolidation post at the end of each week. I have a backup source called Advice from my 80-year-old self by Susan O'Malley if I need extra quotes (label DailyQuotes). 
• Finally, I have accepted the challenge from Lin-Manuel Miranda to join his book club and read The Complete Shakespeare during 2018. We will have monthly reading assignments. I plan to keep my reading assignments, thoughts, and comments in my Hobonichi planner (label AYearWithShakespeare).