For twenty years I’ve been unable to achieve a state of ‘mindfulness’ then one day back in the brief summer of 2019 between the monsoon-stylee rainy days, I got my fine-nib coloured pens out along with a Jane Austen colouring book I’d recently discovered shoved in the back of a sideboard drawer.
The scenes to colour in were so intricate that I was lost in the zone, focussed solely on colours. Nothing else, just colours. Being an artist myself, I’d only ever flicked through a colouring book, I always tried to draw my own, considering it cheating to use someone else’s artwork. The problem was that I never finished any scenes for myself, I didn’t have the time to spare to do what my brain was calling a ‘self-indulgent exercise’. Because of this I never got to find out if ‘colouring in’ would help me as it did so many others.
Turns out I should have taken up colouring in a long long time ago. What I have learned is that I need a complex scene, intricate, different and mostly non-repeating, it also needs to be of something I have an interest in – so the cheapo all-to-similar £1 pattern books are not for me.
On the hunt for something a little more substantial, I took myself off to Waterstone’s where I found Johanna Basford’s Inky Wonderland series. This is why I’m sharing her ‘Happy Place’ which she has created to help us all get through tough times. If you have a brain like mine, that won’t stop running 1000 things through it per millisecond, where a state of mindfulness seems way out of reach, maybe, like me, you could benefit from a whole new world of just focussing on colours.
If you need a happy place to escape to just now, here it is!
Creativity is a simple way to ease anxiety and can have wonderful positive effects on your mental health. Now more than ever we need to care for ourselves and others, both physically and mentally.
Johanna Basford is an international best-selling illustrator and ink evangelist who has sold over 21 million copies of her Inky Wonderland book series. She prefers pens and pencils to pixels, and in this era of Covid-19, she’s on a mission to inspire the world to put down their devices and pick up a pen or pencil and create happy!
Welcome to the Inky Happy Place!
The Inky Happy Place is a collection of free downloads, tutorial videos and the online drawing course, Inky Art School all in one easy to find (happy!) place. Find something that takes your fancy then start creating!
Johanna wants us to spread the happy!
Print a few extra copies of a download and share them with someone who needs a little help just now. Post a picture of your creation on social media or upload it to the Inky Art School’s Colouring Gallery and inspire someone else. Spread the happy.
Being creative is so good for our mental health and now more than ever, we need a few little tricks to help us through these difficult days.
Thinking of you all, much love, Johanna x
Johanna's free Creative Resources for you
Anyone can draw or be creative, you just need a little nudge!
Johanna
For me, computer generated artwork lacks the warmth and charm of something hand drawn, so I create all my artwork by hand; drawing first in pencil, then redrawing in ink. I love intricate details and try to craft images that invite you to pause and examine the artwork a little closer. Hidden within the flora and fauna are rogue butterflies, half hidden hedgehogs and even the odd little owl!
Click on the video below to learn more about Inky Art School
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Because everything matters
I’d love to hear from you if this works for you and if you have other illustrator’s to recommend, please comment below.