Color with someone today. Right now as a matter of fact!!
As I sit at my desk poking my head up from the messes that are my end-of-the-year last minute projects, I begin to reminisce. I remember about a week ago when my youngest daughter Sage enacted her unwritten law of Daddy Servitude by requesting…neh, demanding I come to the living room and help her color in her coloring book. The decree came early that morning, right after I walked my oldest to the bus stop and before my wife made it downstairs. I remember thinking about the projects I needed to complete by mid-day and readying myself to plow through them.
Puss in Boots character from the DreamWorks animated film, "Shrek".
“Daddy, I have no one to color with. Mar went to school and mommy is still sleeping. Can you color with me?” She just looked to0 heartbroken that her sister was nowhere to be found and she was coming to me as a last resort. So I decided to go ahead and take the five minutes to color a little 8.5 X 11 line drawing of “Angel Kitties” (which I guess in retrospect is a bit morbid, but they looked so cute with their big Puss-in-Boots eyes).
So we get to coloring and I realize how much appeal this still holds for me . It seems like such a simple thing, but I found myself really getting into it. I experimented with a purplish grass. I bent reality to my will and concocted a shadow that was actually lighter than the surface it covered (making it somewhat of a glowing shadow..top that Stephen Hawking!!) I experienced creative pangs hitherto untapped and forgotten since my youth.
I remembered the time and care I took to build my view of the world on paper. I was proud and amazed at the same time. Then the restrictions came:
- “You know you should really try to stay in the lines”
- “You should probably make the grass green…so it looks real”
- “You don’t have to press so hard with the crayon/color pencil/marker”
While many of these “rules” helped me learn structure, color theory, and subtlety, I wonder what I lost along the way. We sometimes relinquish our innate creativity to fit in that box of class of good and professional designers/bakers/accountants/whatevers.
Take some time, grab a friend or two, and color some Angel Kitties today. I imagine your friends may want some official sounding reason to why they should rediscover their illustrious past (i.e. humor, mental breakdown until EMS get there, etc.), so direct them to the list below care of The Truver Road Coloring Club:
- Coloring can help those with head injuries or strokes recover quicker by assisting them gain fine motor skills.
- Coloring can be done by veterans returning from Iraq, those who may suffer from a mental or physical injury. It can assist those that may be suffering from post traumatic syndrome by clearing their thought process and viewing situations more realistically. Those that may be suffering from a lose of a limb can use coloring to gain coordination with their non-dominant hand. They can color with their children creating a quality family activity that can lead to a better more positive recovery process.
- Coloring can be an activity for children in hospitals, families can make it a quality visit activity, as a decoration in their room.
- Coloring can be done by children in schools, those that have special needs or behavior problems. The activity can assist to redirect an individual’s energy.
- Coloring can be done by the elderly in nursing homes, assisted living, personal care homes or adult day cares. The designs create an age appropriate activity.
- Coloring can be done by those who are going through cancer treatments to pass the time and reduce the anxiety of the situation.
If they need a more anciently mystical excuse reason, look no further. This is a Mandala.
From Coloring Mandalas 2 by Susanne F. Fincher; © 2004. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., www.shambhala.com.
According to Wikipedia,
Mandala (Sanskrit: ????? ma??ala “essence” + “having” or “containing”, also translates as “circle-circumference” or “completion”), is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism.
Essentially this complex array of lines are said to be a spirtual tool used to enable meditation and our connection to our subconscious. Pshycoanalyst Carl Jung believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.
Didn’t think we would end up here at the end of the day did you?
