Not Just A Colouring Book

I think the last time I sat with a fresh pack of crayons and a colouring book was at the age of 10. To me, colouring was only limited to filling in nicely outlined Disney characters with pastels on rainy afternoons when I could not get out to play with my brothers. Hence, when the recent trend of adult colouring books came up, I could not understand what all this hype was about. That was until I got my hands on the British illustrator Johanna Basford's book “Secret Garden.”

As subtitled, Secret Garden is “An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book.” Filled with extremely intricate monochrome illustrations, the book is one of a kind. The artwork is visually enticing and to think that Basford inked the drawings with her own hands is incredible. 

The drawings have all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants in them, almost like a backyard that has been cared for far too long. The reason why it is called an inky treasure hunt is because in each of the pictures, there are hidden critters and lots of other small doodles that the colourist has to seek. The first page of the book gives away how many butterflies, flying beetles and other creatures one has to look for in between the inked mazes and patterns, while the last page is a detailed key to where to find which. I think one of the coolest parts about this book is how the artist kept spaces for the colourist to add details to the flora and fauna inspired illustrations. But that can be a major turnoff for people who bought the book just to colour without getting too worked up about their drawing skills.

The book itself is a brown paperback but it also has an outer covering filled with foliage patterns that you can colour. Scratch that, you can colour every and any part of this book. There are drawings on both sides of a paper and needless to say, the paper is of good quality, if not the best. 

For the first few days, I had difficulties colouring with an open imagination. The book is so beautiful; it's difficult to even think of putting my marks on it. I started with Faber Castell's coloured pencils and it suited the paper well as long as I put one or two layers of colours. Then I moved on to the ordinary felt tip pens found at local stationeries for a minimum value and the colours worked fine. I also tried water colour, brush pens, crayons and pastels and none of them bled through. But it was very difficult to work with sharpie pens and markers as both bled through very easily, making me feel horrible for trying them out on the beautiful paper.

Now that I have spent some time with this book, I can understand how colouring is therapeutic for most adults. Art has the capability to take us to places very close to our hearts. As for colouring, there is something immensely powerful and nostalgic about it, especially when it comes to a book so delicate, so beautiful. It reminded me of a time when I couldn't be bothered about anything materialistic. Since the artworks are quite sophisticated, I had to put my full concentration while colouring and that really helped me take my mind off things. It's a great pastime that doesn't involve gadgets and an excellent way to unleash your creativity. 

So, if you're looking for a relaxing getaway from your everyday adult activities, you're going to have lots of fun colouring the Secret Garden. The book is available at papertree.com.bd for BDT 1450.  

Mashiat Lamisa is often seen frowning at the sight of people who dislike poetry and tomatoes. She can be reached at mashiatlamisa@outlook.com