I love the trend toward colouring books for grown ups. I haven't always been a colouring book fan. Like many people I read that colouring books blunted the creative imagination of children so for a while I banned them from my home. Over time I came to realise that some of us need some outlines to fill in as we cannot simply grab an idea from the gurgling quagmire of our inner brainy bits. Some of us need a photograph and a projector or a spirograph or one of those copying plastic toy thingamejigs and grids and paint by numbers. Even Van Gogh and other great artists copied the greats before them so they could excel in the techniques before branching out into their own style.
I am going to create a colouring book of my very own art some time soon but I would like to tell you about a colouring book I have already contributed to.
Last year I was involved in a colouring book collaboration with twelve other amazing creative people. It is a colouring book about chores. Ordinary household chores become something else when monsters are involved. Jennyann was the driving force in gathering us all from across the globe to contribute to this fun project. In the colouring book, which is free to download from Jennyann's blog, you can share the art and talents of the following incredibly generous people.
Jennyann Carthern Blogger & Illustrator
Jennyann is an
Artist, Illustrator, and a Activity Specialist for an after school
program, with over 11 years experience working as a teaching artist, for
various non profits and after school programs in the Bay Area! She has a
BFA in Illustration from the California College of the Arts; and has
been diligently building her life as an Artist, with the goal of working
full time in her studio in Benicia, CA. Jennyann is also passionate
about mentoring artists to sustain their creative juice, and helping
after school programs teach art for learning. While making art,
illustrating children's books, toy crates and designs for kids!
Learn more about Jennyann & her work at:
www.paintishthickerthanwater.com or send her a tweet
@Paintisthicker.
Dani Duck Writer & Illustrator
Dani is passionate
about education, writing, parenting and art. She loves sharing the
information and inspiration with those who read her blog. She currently
resides with her husband Peter and son David in the outer, outer reaches
of the Greater Vancouverish area.
Learn more about Dani & her Blog at:
http://daniduckart.blogspot.com , or send her a tweet
@DaniDuck
Tori Deaux Quirkipreneur & Illustrator
Tori loves
monsters, hates chores, and adores collaborations (especially with
monsters!). Her art is usually for grown-ups, but she loves coloring and
monsters so much she just had to take part in this project!
You can learn more about her work at:
http://www.quirkipreneurs.com/monstersor send her a tweet @ToriDeaux
Telaina Muir KidsLit Writer & Illustrator
Telaina is a
children’s book writer and illustrator. She loves living in Alaska with
her family, and having adventures everyday. She teaches free art lessons
on her blog at
www.impandthestoryteller.com or send her a tweet
@TelainaMuir
Bobbie Dacus
KidsLit Writer & Illustrator
Bobbie
began drawing at a very young age.. after her dad brought home some
unlined paper from work. Her passion was drawing and creating her own
paper dolls and make clothes for them. Which eventually led her to
create comic books about fashion. Bobbie also studied graphic design in college while working as a Visual Merchandising and winning awards! (Fancy that!) After
her children, Holly and Ben, were born she fell in love with children’s
book illustration and has been doing it ever since. Illustrating
books like “Saving Emma” for the Apothecary Museum in Alexandria, VA and
several other books. She's currently writing and illustrating in the
hopes of publishing more books.
Learn more about Bobbie at: http://www.bobbiedacus.com
or send her a tweet @BobbieDacus
Teresa Schaefer
Writer & Illustrator
Teresa is a new
writer/illustrator hoping to illustrate some of the books she has
written. A kid at heart, she still loves to color, so drawing a page for
The Monster Coloring Book was a perfect fit. And, speaking of monsters,
when she went to bed when she was little, she wouldn't let her arms or
feet dangle over the sides of the bed for fear the monster beneath her
bed would grab her. She says she knows monsters are make-believe; but,
if she saw one on the street, she would run. Books and art have been a
part of her life for as long as she can remember. As an elementary
student, she helped the school librarian re-shelve books, wrote her
first story at age eight, joined what she now knows was a critique group
at age ten, painted a sixty foot mural three years ago and continues to
write and draw on a daily basis. Professionally trained as a licensed
psychologist, it is not uncommon for her stories to have a therapeutic
bent. She is the proud mother of two very outstanding young adults,
twelve goldfish, a clumsy bull-dog, an old cat, and a cat that thinks
she is a dog. She used to have a lizard named Steve who -- looked kinda
like a monster. She hopes you have a monstrously good time coloring.
Feel free to visit her website at
www.TeresaMISchaefer.com,
or send her a tweet
@TMISchaefer.
Ceilila Clark (me of course)
Writer & Illustrator
Creating monsters is
Cecilia favorite activity. Stories, art and children all have Cecilia's
unique monster creating stamp on them. She has art and short stories in
a wide variety of anthologies and has the pleasure of illustrating
the work of other writers. Cecilia can be found in the usual social
sites hiding behind her friends the pixel monsters.
Learn more about me and my monsters Monsters right here at:
http://ceciliaaclark.blogspot.com or find my art by clicking my gallery button.
Kim MacPherson Writer, Illustrator & Editor
Kim MacPherson
is a children’s author, illustrator, and editor. Her favorite book as a
kid was the original Golden Book of Fairy Tales. She was also obsessed
with Dr. Seuss. You can also find Kim blogging about writing, drawing,
and reading children’s books at KidLitDish.com and editing Picture Books
at PictureBookEditor.com, or send her a tweet @KidLitDish
Mary Flynn
Illustrator & Teacher
Mary has always had a
passion for art. She is currently working towards children’s art,
because it has always fascinated her. Fueled by her work as a reading
teacher! Mary has never had formal art training just a few classes here
and there. All of my educational background is in Education. She has a
Bachelor of Arts in English and two Masters’ of Arts in Education. The
littlest thing can inspire a drawing or painting; a color, a spot, a
leaf, or a bug. I love surrealism and do a lot of it in my fine art. The
children’s art scene is new to me but I’m learning and meeting some
really wonderful people on this new journey in my life.
Learn more about Mary at:
http://www.flynnsfineart.com, or send her a tweet
@Flynnsfineart
Annina Wildermuth
KidsLit Writer & Illustrator
Annina is
a Byzantine and European history nut, currently living in Huntington,
NY. She loves, illustrating , and designing coloring books that feature
characters from mythology and opera. She someday hopes to write a Middle
Grade historical novel. Annina was born in Germany, but raised in the
U.S. She is Swiss/American and speaks an impressive three languages.
German, Swiss German, and French. To learn more about Annina, head over
to her blog "All my Characters" at
http://allmycharacters.
wordpress.comand she also loves connecting on twitter
@AnninaLuck
Jennifer Vanderbeek Bookkeeper, Artist & Writer
Jennifer
believes in the power of creativity, cocktails, (parenthetical
references) and having a good laugh (generally at her own expense). She
believes that doing at least one creative thing a day is good for the
soul and that having multiple passions prevents burnout! Deadlines are
her best motivators; second only to rewards. Jennifer also enjoys
working with emerging authors and small businesses to add a touch of fun
and whimsy to their books, websites, and products to help get their
message out to their right people in an approachable, understandable
way.
Learn more about Jennifer at www.ScrapsOfLife.com and www.JenniferVanderbeek.com or send her a tweet @scrapsoflife
Leila Nabih
Childrens Book Writer & Illustrator
Leila is an up and coming illustrator and children’s books author.
She has left the corporate world of publishing more than a year ago to
invest herself completely into her new career. She has started by
studying for Diploma in Children’s Book Illustrations which she received
with Merit from the London Art College in January 2014. Leila has also
published a short poetry book in 2013 and is now working on a
fiction/fantasy novel for 9-12yo children and two picture book projects
to be published end of 2014. She uses a variety of media for her art,
from the traditional watercolors, markers, pastels, to the more advanced
digital art. She has published a few custom made books for special
occasions and on commissions. Books requested by parents or relatives of
a child, telling the child’s story through a series of illustrations
and very short and sweet text. If you’d like to see a sample, do drop
her an email or get in touch with her via the various social media
platforms. Learn more about Leila at:
http://leilanabih.com or send her a tweet
@LN_Illustration.
Lezette Markham
Creative Mentor, Artist, & Teacher
Lezette has been
inspiring creativity 7+ years experience motivating people to embrace a
creative practice in their lives for the betterment of themselves and
their communities. She has a Bachelors Degree in Graphic Design that she
uses to share creative inspiration, coaching and tutorials online at
SimplyArtOC.com. Lezette was also the Vice President of the
Art & Creativity for Healing
Women’s Guild (2012-2013) located in Laguna Niguel, California. Her
fascination with Mixed Media started as a young child, and she is
blessed to say never left me.
Feel free to send her a tweet
@SimplyArt_Us
If you pop over to the Paint is thicker than Water Blog you can download the colouring book for free. Kids of all ages are sure to enjoy these monsters.
http://paintisthickerthanwater.com/monster-chores/
Support and LOVE your artists!Please Copy & Paste the Messages below to your
Twitter or Facebook or make your own:
Love Coloring! Love Monsters! Print & Download this FREE Coloring Book! #printables #monsters # KidsLit #Artsed #monsterchores2015, bit.ly/MonsterChores
Post Pictures of Your Finished Coloring Pages and share them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest or your favourite site! Use our official hashtag, #MonsterChores2015
Post one of the Monster Chore badges on your website or blog and link
http://paintisthickerthanwater.com/projects/monster-chores
(Right Click on one of the images below and then click Save Image As)
Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie
