template thursday

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

This week, my template for members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group is a typically entangled one – full of Zentangle-style patterns, arches, a few flowers and organic motifs added, but mainly purely abstract. Great fun to add colour to!

This template was one I had doubts about whether it was ‘right’ or ‘good enough’. It wasn’t until I added colour to it that I realised it was just fine. I’ve chosen, yet again, quite a vintage colour palette, with a couple of brighter spots here and there.

This often happens to me. I’m really not happy with a drawing, but then I add colour and it magically transforms into something that I’m quite happy with. The colour is the flesh on the line-work skeleton. It’s quite magical!

The template is free to members of the facebook group, and you’d be made most welcome as a member should you wish to colour this template, or many others that are available there.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

A spring-themed template this week, and a challenge, over on the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

The challenge is a month long and I’ve asked the members to hold off posting their completed templates until 31st March so they can all be posted together. I thought it would be fun to do that way.

Anyway, the challenge is to use a limited colour palette plus black and white to colour this week’s template, or any other flowery template for the 31st March. I’ve chosen some springtime colours. It’s going to be interesting to see how different people use the colours to complete this challenge.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Thursday seems to come around both quickly and as if it’s been an age since last Thursday. As it’s Thursday, that means it’s time for a new colouring template /coloring page for the members of Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week’s template is a typically ‘Angela’ entangled style drawing. A stylised dragonfly floats above an entangled background containing arches and seed pods, flowers and foliage, along with various patterns and an intricate border.

I’ve chosen to part colour the template in a monochrome scheme of greens. I don’t really pay attention to light source much. mostly I use light and shadow as part of the patterns and a way to introduce a sense of depth and dimension to my art. This is something I realised only recently.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It seems like both an age and no time at all since last week’s coloring page / coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week’s offering is a mandala. I always find mandalas soothing to draw and colour. The circular form and repetitive nature are beguiling, relaxing, soothing and magical in some way.

This week’s is quite simple, as colouring templates need to be. It’s also quite botanical in nature. The colour palette I’ve chosen is full of sunshine, growth, peace, harmony and self-care. I haven’t quite finished colouring it, but that’s fine. It did what it needed to do for me.

I’m well out of sorts today. I really didn’t want to get out of bed. But I did, and showered.

I know what’s causing my emotional and mental turmoil at the moment. I just can’t seem to actually act to bring that to an end. Guilt, grief, and other emotions are causing me problems. I know I’ll act when I’m ready to do so, but it’s so difficult to let go. But I need to do so for my own emotional and mental well being.

Talking of emotional and mental well being, today is Time to Talk Day. It’s a day where Time to Talk Wales, along with sister organisations, encourage everyone to have a conversation about mental and emotional health. All to help to end the stigma and discrimination that exists around mental health.

This year’s theme is ‘Small things’. I’ve written on facebook about three small conversations I had that have led to me healing from complex post traumatic stress disorder. Not completely. I’m not sure you can completely heal as part of surviving complex trauma is hiding that trauma deep inside. I am, however, healed enough. I’m just waiting for the lockdown to end so I can start pushing my boundaries a bit.

Anyway, I’m going to finish all the social media stuff now and then I’ll be returning to arty pursuits. Maybe a nap too as I’m feeling so tired today. Emotional turmoil exhausts me. Also, sleep is one of my coping strategies when I’m stressed out in some way.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

This week’s coloring template for members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Books Fans facebook group is a typically “Angela” style mandala. It’s quite abstract, entangled, a bit zentangle-like.

What isn’t typical is, perhaps, the colour palette. I chose the colours rather intuitively, letting my emotions guide me. I started with cool, calming blues and greens in the centre. All the colours are quite soft and gentle, until I got to the outside border where I used brighter yellows and oranges and complementary blues and purples. The brighter colours appeared as my anxiety ebbed and the clouds parted to let some sunshine through.

I had a weird night’s sleep with both hot flashes and disturbing dreams. I often feel out of sorts for a long while after such dreams and they may be the source of my anxiety. I’m feeling calmer now though. Art has worked it’s magic, and the intermittent sunshine is helping.

I think it’s forecast to be cloudy with sunny breaks for the rest of the daylight hours, so I may very well get myself out for a walk in a short while.

Template Thursday!

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s the first Thursday of 2021 and so it’s time for a template for members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week, it’s a bold, entangled design. Lots of botanical motifs and some geometric patterns in there. I chose to fill the image with flat colours this week. The color palette I’ve used reminds me of the Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau.

It’s both unusual of me to use flat colour, or colours that are also muted. Some shadow and highlight would serve to add dimension to the design, but there’s something quite nice about it as it is. Something that I can’t put my finger on.

If you’d like to print and colour it, you do need to be a member of the facebook group. Membership is free, as are the templates to members. There’s just a few reasonable terms and conditions that need to be followed to use them.

I’ve been creating one template a month for the group since it was started. Since the first lockdown here in the UK (March 2020), I’ve created one template a week for the group. Coloring is an activity that can help alleviate stress and anxiety, induce relaxation, and gives the mind a break from overthinking. It’s been shown in scientific studies to affect the brain in much the same way that mindfulness meditation does.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s Thursday so that means it’s time for a new colouring template / colouring page for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group!

This week’s template is a combination of dangle designs and little pictures. Not one large and often intricate image to colour this week, but a series of little ones so that the template can be coloured in one little bit at a time. This is great for people who get overwhelmed by large, overly-complex colouring pages.

Just as a note, my book “A Dangle A Day” is available. It’s a tutorial book showing how you too can create your own cute and whimsical dangle designs. The dangle designs in the book are a lot smaller than this template!

This design was drawn on Rhodia Dot grid paper using a “F” Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen and then cleaned up digitally. I then added a wintry background and added some colour to some of the motifs.

I always love to see the many different and unique ways colorists bring my designs to life. Colour really does make all the difference to the templates.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s that time in the week where I post a coloring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week’s offering is a typically Entangled design, with some inspiration from Hundertwasser – the lollipop trees and pillars particularly.

I bore in mind my musings yesterday about me and straight lines and left a wiggly, wriggly, wobbly border around the design. I also made some of my arches deliberately wonky and wobbly too.

I drew the design with Rotring pens on cartridge paper. After scanning in, I edited and coloured the design in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.

It was a nice way to spend some time yesterday. I didn’t feel too good when I woke up, but as the day went on I distinctly felt unwell. The recurrence of the fatigue, upset tummy, lack of focus. Overnight, my sleep was really disturbed by dashing back and forth the loo.

As I’m finding it hard to focus for a couple to a few days at a time, thanks to these recurring bouts of illness, I’ve decided to take a break from the weekly templates until the end of the month. The book I’m working on is due to be finished by then and I need to use what energy and focus I have on that.

I’ll try to blog daily, perhaps with sneak peeks or sketchbook work, or blasts from the past. But if I miss a day, it’s because I’m either overwhelmed by work or fatigue as I go through another cycle of this illness.

I do think it has everything to do with the illness I had back at the end of December 2019. Sickness, diarrhoea, extreme fatigue, loss of taste and smell, brain fog, loss of appetite. I get repeats of the illness, albeit it much less severe.

I know it’ll pass in a day or two and I’ll be back to my usual self. But for now, I need to look after myself, and make sure I get my work done too.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I was in the mood for a mandala this sunshiny morning in the Valleys of South Wales, so that’s what I created for this week’s coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

Some Mayan-style glyphs have been appearing in my sketchbook lately, and I felt I needed to incorporate them into a mandala design. So I did.

I also chose colours that reminded me of golden stone and primary coloured gems/paints/inks, including the golden-sand coloured kraft paper background. It has lovely warm, desert feel to it.

As usual, the uncoloured template is available to members of the facebook group. Membership is free, as are the pandemic templates, just some simple terms and conditions of use need to be adhered to.

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

This week’s template for the Angela Porter Coloring Fans facebook group is another Hallowe’en themed one, the last one this year.

I always have a lot of fun with Hallowe’en themed designs, and this one is no exception. Lots of skulls, potion bottles, eyeballs, ghosts, monsters, pumpkins, toadstools, gravestones, and more!

It’s taken me several hours to colour in just a portion of the design. I’m going to try to finish this one off in time for Hallowe’en.

Drawn with pen on paper, digitally coloured.

The template is available for members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group – free to join, and free to download. Terms and conditions for use apply.