I'm a grown-up, but I still love colouring books
1. What’s your favourite colour? It’s a question children ask each other so often we could be forgiven for dismissing it as meaningless. But for me, colour provides a direct link to our emotions, and our feelings about colour can reflect how we feel about ourselves.
2. When I was a child, colouring in was one of my favourite activities, and when I spent my gap year working as an au pair in France I was thrilled to discover that one of my young charges was also a fan. But when I went to university, I had no children to legitimise my hobby and allowed myself to be embarrassed into giving it up – until a few years later, when my oldest nephew was born and I no longer had to hide my obsession.
3. But colouring in is way too much fun to be left just to children. This realisation hit me on a rainy Sunday earlier this year when I was feeling hungover and my love life was in freefall. As if out of nowhere, I was suddenly overwhelmed by an uncontrollable urge to colour. When I took to social media to see if anyone could recommend any colouring books aimed at adults, within minutes I was bombarded with suggestions. I opted for The Mindfulness Colouring Book by Emma Farrarons, treated myself to a brand new set of felt tips, and was soon re-experiencing the joys of immersing myself in colour.
4. According to the makers of adult colouring books, much of the activity’s appeal is rooted in nostalgia, and this is certainly true in my case; while my childhood wasn’t particularly happy, I was always happy when I was colouring in. As it’s an activity most children do alone, it’s unfettered by the social tensions that can intrude on other forms of play. It isn’t tainted by the guilt or obligation that can blight other creative activities like playing a musical instrument. And the idea of adding colour to an existing picture isn’t as daunting as the prospect of creating one from scratch.
5. Perhaps most importantly for adults, colouring in is hugely relaxing, something highlighted in the introduction to The Mindfulness Colouring Book. If we immerse ourselves in one simple activity, it explains, we can achieve something approaching a state of meditation. In the past I’ve always struggled with meditation as I’ve never been able to relax by doing nothing – but relaxing by colouring in is something I can get my head around. If I switch off the phone, computer and TV and concentrate solely on choosing the right shade of blue, avoiding going over the lines and slowly filling up my page with colour, all my other concerns, I’ve discovered, fade to nothing. And not only that, but when I step back to admire my finished work, I sometimes find I’ve come up with a solution to a problem that’s been bothering me for days.
6. Now you might think that it’s easy for me to absorb myself in childish silliness like colouring in when I spend my life writing novels, especially when my books are frothy romantic comedies that are as much fun to write as I hope they are to read. But since my adult colouring book has sat proudly on my coffee table, it’s attracted the attention of all the grownups who’ve come to my flat, many of whom devote themselves to much more serious jobs than mine. Most of them haven’t been able to resist breaking into my rainbow-like arrangement of felt tips and completing a colouring of their own, often squealing with delight as they do so. And the less creative their careers, the more pleasure it seems to give them.
7. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear that half of this week’s top 10 bestselling books on Amazon are adult colouring books. And I don’t think the popularity of colouring in for adults will be just a passing fad either. Now I’ve rediscovered it, I certainly don’t plan on giving it up any time soon. Although if all my friends continue to fill up my first colouring book, I will have to buy another.
8. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my favourite colour is purple.
I'm a grown-up, but I still love colouring books
1. What’s your favourite colour? It’s a question children ask each other so often we could be forgiven for dismissing it as meaningless. But for me, colour provides a direct link to our emotions, and our feelings about colour can reflect how we feel about ourselves.
2. When I was a child, colouring in was one of my favourite activities, and when I spent my gap year working as an au pair in France I was thrilled to discover that one of my young charges was also a fan. But when I went to university, I had no children to legitimise my hobby and allowed myself to be embarrassed into giving it up – until a few years later, when my oldest nephew was born and I no longer had to hide my obsession.
3. But colouring in is way too much fun to be left just to children. This realisation hit me on a rainy Sunday earlier this year when I was feeling hungover and my love life was in freefall. As if out of nowhere, I was suddenly overwhelmed by an uncontrollable urge to colour. When I took to social media to see if anyone could recommend any colouring books aimed at adults, within minutes I was bombarded with suggestions. I opted for The Mindfulness Colouring Book by Emma Farrarons, treated myself to a brand new set of felt tips, and was soon re-experiencing the joys of immersing myself in colour.
4. According to the makers of adult colouring books, much of the activity’s appeal is rooted in nostalgia, and this is certainly true in my case; while my childhood wasn’t particularly happy, I was always happy when I was colouring in. As it’s an activity most children do alone, it’s unfettered by the social tensions that can intrude on other forms of play. It isn’t tainted by the guilt or obligation that can blight other creative activities like playing a musical instrument. And the idea of adding colour to an existing picture isn’t as daunting as the prospect of creating one from scratch.
5. Perhaps most importantly for adults, colouring in is hugely relaxing, something highlighted in the introduction to The Mindfulness Colouring Book. If we immerse ourselves in one simple activity, it explains, we can achieve something approaching a state of meditation. In the past I’ve always struggled with meditation as I’ve never been able to relax by doing nothing – but relaxing by colouring in is something I can get my head around. If I switch off the phone, computer and TV and concentrate solely on choosing the right shade of blue, avoiding going over the lines and slowly filling up my page with colour, all my other concerns, I’ve discovered, fade to nothing. And not only that, but when I step back to admire my finished work, I sometimes find I’ve come up with a solution to a problem that’s been bothering me for days.
6. Now you might think that it’s easy for me to absorb myself in childish silliness like colouring in when I spend my life writing novels, especially when my books are frothy romantic comedies that are as much fun to write as I hope they are to read. But since my adult colouring book has sat proudly on my coffee table, it’s attracted the attention of all the grownups who’ve come to my flat, many of whom devote themselves to much more serious jobs than mine. Most of them haven’t been able to resist breaking into my rainbow-like arrangement of felt tips and completing a colouring of their own, often squealing with delight as they do so. And the less creative their careers, the more pleasure it seems to give them.
7. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear that half of this week’s top 10 bestselling books on Amazon are adult colouring books. And I don’t think the popularity of colouring in for adults will be just a passing fad either. Now I’ve rediscovered it, I certainly don’t plan on giving it up any time soon. Although if all my friends continue to fill up my first colouring book, I will have to buy another.
8. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my favourite colour is purple.
1. How effective do you find the use of sentence structure in the opening paragraph? 2E
2. Why is colour important to the writer in paragraph 1? 1U
3. Summarise the writer’s relationship with colouring in as depicted in paragraph 2. 4U
4. How does the writer create a link between paragraphs 2 and 3? 2U
5. Why did the writer start colouring again more recently? Read paragraph 3. 2U
6. How does the writer use word choice at the beginning of paragraph 3 to express her need to colour? 2A
7. “I opted for The Mindfulness Colouring Book by Emma Farrarons, treated myself to a brand new set of felt tips, and was soon re-experiencing the joys of immersing myself in colour.” Identify the tone at the end of the paragraph 3 and show how the writer has created that tone. 2A
8. How does the writer use word choice in paragraph 4 to show the negative qualities that other hobbies may have? 4A
9. Summarise the benefits of colouring in as felt by the author in paragraph 5. 3U
10. How does the writer use language to show that some people might not take her new hobby seriously in paragraph 6? 4A
11. How does the writer then contradict this idea later in paragraph 6? 2E
12. How effective do you find the final line as a conclusion to the rest of the passage? 2E
Total marks - 30