It’s #TemplateThursday when I create and post a colouring template to the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. The template is free to members, though there are a few terms and conditions associated with it’s use. It’s also free to join the group!
This week, I decided to draw some cute and whimsical bugs, each having their very own portrait. Lots of small, individual pictures that a perfect for quick, mindful colouring.
I know I often get overwhelmed by a huge artwork I’m working on and that is most likely to happen when I’m experiencing a lot of anxiety, and I seem to have waves of anxiety the like I haven’t seen for a long time, most related to the pandemic.
When I need to take time out, to do art that will soothe me, calm me, let me relax and find that mindful, content space within myself, I turn to creating small artworks.
I drew this template with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen on ClaireFontaine dot grid paper. Colouring has been done digitally in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.
It’s free to join the group, and the template is a freebie for members of the group.
This week, I created a mandala design with a background of geometric, repeating patterns.
I’m still recovering from the stress of my first trip out since March 2020. Drawing (and colouring) mandalas is an incredibly peaceful, relaxing and mindful activity. So, it was natural that I drew one.
The mandala design is based on some of the abstract art I’ve been doing of late. It’s a bit unusual for my mandalas, but I really do like the organic flow of the lines.
Even though the design is abstract, the repeating symmetry of a mandala bring some structure to the design. I am looking forward to seeing how members of the group add colour to the design.
The geometric patterns in the background also result in a soothing, repetitive rhythm for colouring; a rhythm that results in soothing and calming ones mind and emotions.
De-stressing
I have been totally shaken by the level of anxiety/stress that resulted from my trip out on Tuesday. I am beginning to feel more my contented and calm self. However, I find I’m still irritable and grumpy and have withdrawn from social media and the like for most of the day.
It was a sobering thought when I realised I’d lived most of my life constantly at elevated stress levels, often as higher than what I experienced in the past couple of days.
It’s also a wonderful realisation that I can recognise this now, and I also am able to allow myself self-care time to let all the stress hormones leach from my body. It’s been a long time since they peaked in this way.
It makes me extremely grateful to my therapist for her years of patient work with me. Experiences like the Tuesday Trip remind me of how I used to be and show me how far I have come in recovery from cPTSD.
Yesterday, after my social media post, I binged watched the Harry Potter films from The Order of the Phoenix. I found I was irritated by crochet. I tried cross-stitch, which irritated me too. Eventually, I settled on knitting, which, oddly, soothed me. I think it’s because I could knit and watch the film. Knitting allowed me to channel my irritability into something creative. As I can knit without looking at the knitting, I could also watch and immerse myself in the films at the same time.
My fingers are itching to knit again, now I’ve thought about it.
Even though I slept well last night, I’m still feeling really tired today. This happens as part of the post-stress come-down. It can last a few days. I’ll not be rushing to nap, however. Napping has a knock-on effect on my ability to sleep at night when I’m like this. My naps tend to end up as periods of deep sleep, so I try not to take them unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Another week in lock-down has passed us by here in the UK, as well as many places around the world. That means it’s time for another weekly coloring template.
This week, the inspiration for this template has come from the pages full of capsules, pods and seeds in my sketchbook. Lots of opportunity to experiment with colour, but also adding little details to each tiny picture.
Drawn using Sakura Pigma micron pens (05 and 01) on ClaireFontaine dot grid paper. Clean up of drawing, colouring and typography done digitally using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro along with a Microsoft Surface Studio and Microsoft Surface Slim Pen.
The weeks are flying by! It seems like hardly any time at all since I posted last week’s coloring template. I decided at the start of the Covid-19 quarrantine that I’d design a weekly coloring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. And so far I’ve managed to do that.
And here, partly coloured, is this week’s offering. I look forward, as always to seeing the coloured templates by members of the group. I love the way that they use different colours and interpret the design differently!
The template is only available in the facebook group, and is for free. I know how much colouring and creativity can help people manage their emotional and mental health. Creating art and being creative certainly helps me, especially if I have a good audiobook on or uplifting music!
I created this design digitally in Autodesk Sketchbook using a Microsoft Surface Slim Pen and Microsoft Surface Studio.
Flowers always cheer me up, and I thought they’d make a nice motif in the design. I kept to the same kind of flowers. In fact, although this drawing is still quite detailed and complex, there’s far fewer motifs and patterns in it than I’d usually use.
I also like to partly colour the template – it helps to bring it partly to life to show on social media. Today, I’ve chosen a fairly pastel color palette. I think that reflects how I’m feeling today.
I drew the design on quadrille (squared) paper with a 06 Sakura Pigma Sensei pen. This is an unusual choice for me; the nib is broad and a bit more flexible than I’d usually use. The result is a bold design with bold lines.
I scanned the design in and used some digital wizardry to remove the quadrille grid. I also corrected an error and removed some smudges. All this was done in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, which I continued to use to colour the design in.
So, Angela, how are you doing?
I’m so tired today. I couldn’t sleep past 4:30 am, and after a long while waiting to go to sleep I got up an started doing some arty stuff.
As well as feeling tired, my digestive system is uncomfortable still and I’m feeling a bit icky-sicky too. No headache today, thank goodness.
I am feeling a bit fed up today – fed up of feeling under the weather and tired. Hopefully I’ll have a nap later on today, and that may help my mood a little.
Until then, I’m going to do some arty stuff, most probably in my art journal, or maybe some work for the Mattias Adolphsson Domestika course, “The Art of Sketching: Transform your doodles into art.”
I thought I’d try it out to kick start my imagination and perhaps discover new ways of working, stretching myself somewhat. So far, I’m enjoying it. I work at my own pace.
Floral designs, an entangled garden was my fancy this morning and this is the result, not fully coloured though.
Coloring is a great way to find some calm and peace during troubled times, such as the times we find ourselves in. Scientific studies have shown it has a similar effect on the brain as meditation.
I have a number of templates available for free in the facebook group, including this one.
Gosh, Thursdays seem to come around so quickly these days! Thursday is the day I post a new colouring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group, and above is this weeks offering.
I drew the line art on mixed media paper from Claire Fontaine with Tombow Fudenosuke flexible nib brush pens. I like to use variable line widths in my art from time to time. They give instant depth to the drawing and increase the graphic nature of the design.
I’ve used some really weird colours, for me, in my sample coloration. They’re really quite muted. That’s a hint to me that something is awry with my emotions/mood. I feel quite subdued and ‘meh’ at the moment, which is reflected in my colour choices.
Anyway, if you’d like to colour this, or any of many others in the archives, please pop along and join the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. I create these exclusive templates as a way of saying thank you to those who like my coloring books.
Another week in lock-down and quarrantine has passed us by. How long this will last, who knows. But with another week gone, it has to be one week closer to the end of it.
Fancy bringing this template to life with colour? Just pop over to the facebook group and join! It’s free, as is the template!
I drew the template with pen on paper (Pentel ‘Fountain’ pen and Frisk Bristol Board), scanned it in, cleaned it up, and then added some colour digitally.
This is a very typical ‘Angela’ kind of design – abstract with stylised motifs and geometric patterns. The arches are often used as a way of providing little windows into other world.
I do love to see how people use different color palettes to bring my templates to life. If you choose to join in, then I’d love to see, as would the members of the group too!
If you’d like to download and print the template to colour, then all you need to do is pop over to the group and join! It’s free!
I’m flagging at the moment. I didn’t sleep much last night; I’ve picked up some kind of stomach bug and so was back and forth the bathroom. My tummy is still not well today. I was, however, determined to get a seasonal greeting out to one and all.
Drawn with Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens. Typography and colouring done digitally.
Yesterday was one of those strange days where nothing goes as you hoped it would. Phone call after phone call coming in that needed to be dealt with. Other things that needed doing, and I ended up with absolutely no time for any arty pursuits. One of the phone calls ended up with me in a panicked state, anxious and in tears.
Today, I’m making sure I have some self-soothing time. I have a busy, busy evening ahead of me – a very people-y and noisy one and probably quite frenetic too. So, self-care, self-soothing, and probably a nap is required as I’ve just about reached the limit of my anxiety/stress about it for now.
Part of my arty self-soothing has been completing the dolphin illustration for Specatcular Sea Life for the Creative Haven series of adult coloring books from Dover Publications Inc. And here’s a sneak peek of part of that illustration.
I’m really surprised at the reactions to my little video of me drawing the other day. Plenty of people are asking me to do more. So, I will do so, as well as invest in some equipment I think…
Art is the Adventure 