Crayon time

Art
Coloring books for adults are no longer a secret

Coloring books for adults aren’t a fad or a new phenomenon (and, despite the name, aren’t raunchy), but they have had a recent surge in popularity. Books like “The Secret Garden,” by artist Johanna Basford, have topped best-seller lists and become instant genre staples.

In fact, the trend is big enough that Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Newington hosted a series of coloring nights for adults earlier this summer. And, though it does not necessarily involve crayons, Portsmouth Book & Bar hosts a monthly adult drawing event called Drink ’N’ Draw, coming up next on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6 p.m.

But, at a Barnes & Noble coloring night in early July, no one showed up. Artist and bookstore employee Shaun Wilcox doesn’t want low attendance at to diminish the creative endeavor, however. “I feel it’s one of those things where a lot of people buy the book and then take it home and do it, but they don’t necessarily want to have a class on it, or do it out in public. It’s more of a solo thing than a group (thing),” says Wilcox.

According to coloring book artists and publishers, adults are turning to coloring books as a way to relax and reduce stress and anxiety. There are mobile apps, like “Colorfy” or “Flower Mandalas,” that allow for a coloring fix, but it’s not the same, according to Wilcox.

“I think it’s definitely the medium that affects it,” he says. He prefers using colored pencils on paper. “It’s just not the same — tapping and painting in a color on a screen — as it is to actually having the feeling of drawing with crayons or with colored pencils.”

Wilcox and his coworkers talk about coloring a lot. “The Secret Garden,” published in 2013, has sold more than 1.4 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 14 languages. Basford’s follow-up coloring book, “Enchanted Forest,” sold out of its initial printing of 226,000 copies within weeks of its release in February.

“It’s been an ongoing thing for a while, with all the coloring books coming in and us constantly having to restock them and keep them in the store because … they just sell constantly,” Wilcox says.

Open up a coloring book for adults and you’ll see flourishing flowers, complex mandalas, marbles, butterflies, and stark, black lines. Subjects range from Scandanavian folk patterns and Nordic designs to art that encourages “mindfulness.” The drawings are complex and invite amateur artists to play with color.

“These books help people focus, carve out some quiet brain time. Coloring becomes a little world where they have creative control, if only for a few hours.” — Rebecca Emberly

Why the explosion in popularity?

Seacoast artist, author, and educator Susan Schwake, the owner of Artstream Studios and Gallery in Dover, says, “I think it’s a natural thing that everyone wants to do. The only time adults were coloring is if they were with a child and they felt that that was an OK thing to do. Maybe there are some people sneaking around doing it in the privacy of their own home,” she says. “But I don’t imagine too many people went out and bought ‘My Little Pony’ coloring books and said, ‘I really want to do this.’”

But, thanks to social media and articles in The Atlantic and The New Yorker, among other publications, grown-ups are coming forward about their passion for coloring.

Rebecca Emberley of Two Little Birds Books, is Schwake’s publisher. “I think it’s a cluttered, anxious world and it’s difficult to find quiet space. I imagine that these books help people focus, carve out some quiet brain time,” Emberley says. “Coloring becomes a little world where they have creative control, if only for a few hours. As an artist, I can identify with that aspect of the books. It is great to disconnect your brain from the tumult.”

Search for adult coloring books online and you’ll find more than 200 titles. New Hampshire artists are getting into the trend, too. Bedford artist Jenn Ski has released two so far: “Mid-Century Modern Animals” and “Just Add Color.”

But what about the eternal coloring question: do you have to stay within the lines?

“That’s not what it’s about,” Wilcox says.

Schwake, who contributes a regular visual column in The Sound called “Outside the Lines” and released a coloring calendar last winter, takes a stronger stance.

“I say, use watercolor and go out of the lines,” she says. In other words: color away, according to Schwake. “I think … because everybody’s born creative and they lose it somewhere along the way, that this is something that is opening doors for people to explore their creative side again.”

Top of page: Susan Schwake colors one of her drawings. photo by Rainer Schwake