Glorious Gardens

Glorious Gardens
Reviewer: Sam Tyler
Summary: If life is constantly telling you to keep between the lines, you may as well make good use with it by taking up colouring in. This is no ordinary colouring in book, but one designed for adults and packed with intricate images of fauna and flora.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 128	Date: September 2014
Publisher: Michael O'Mara
ISBN: 9781782432777
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Colouring books are a great way to reduce stress, so how come they are mainly aimed at kids, what have they got to be stressed about? To be fair, some of the little blighters have their worries, but I can guess that more adults after a hard day at work could do with a relax. This could come in the form of a nice glass of wine or something creative. I tell you what, why not try both?

The Creative Colouring Books for Adults are a range of titles designed specifically with artistic adults in mind. How does something like Glorious Gardens differ from the usual colouring book? The first thing you notice is that the designs are a lot more intricate than you would see in a book designed for children. The book has over 100 designs, many of which fill the entire page in great detail and will take a lot to colour in. You are more likely to have to reach for the fine liners than you are a felt tip pen.

Being on the theme of gardens, this particular book concentrates more on fauna and flora. The flowers and plant pages look great and you can have a great time colouring in huge bursts of wild orchards. The fact that all the illustrations are in bold black and white does mean that it is up to the person colouring in to add elements of light and shade – just another way in which the book requires an advanced hand.

Whilst the flora stands out for good reasons, some of the fauna stands out for bad. The artistic licence taken with the flowers leads to interesting patterns, with the bugs etc, it just looks a little naïve. All of a sudden Glorious Gardens touches on being a book more suitable for a younger age. This is not a problem found in some of the other books in the Creative Colouring Books range. As the book contains drawings from many different illustrators, some are going to look better than others. It is just in this particular case, there are more naïve images than I would have liked.

There is of course also the inherent problem with who this book will appeal to. This is not a book for gardeners as it is just black and white images. It is a book designed specifically for an adult wanting to colour something in and having a challenge as they do so. However, many of the artistic people I know draw from scratch and then colour. Perhaps a talented teenager or student would enjoy the book, not only to draw in, but as an aid to learning composition.

To the right person who sets out looking for a colouring book for adults, Glorious Gardens is a great find. There are others in the series that offer more intricate designs and are less naïve, but for someone who wants to colour in flowers to a high standard, this is the book for them. Now you just have to think, do you know that person?

If this book appeals then we can also recommend The Creative Therapy Colouring Book by Hannah Davies, Richard Merritt and Jo Taylor and The Neon Colouring Book by Richard Merritt, Amanda Hillier and Felicity French.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Glorious Gardens at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Glorious Gardens at Amazon.com.

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