National Coloring Book Day and a FREEBIE!

Hello Friends! Happy National Coloring Book Day! I hope that you all take a little time out to color in your coloring books today. And for those of you still straddling the fence or if you haven't yet made up your mind which coloring book you'd like to purchase, here is something very special just for you!

Johanna Basford, illustrator of a very popular collection of coloring books, think...

Secret Garden

Enchanted Forest

Lost Ocean

has teamed up with Method Uk, the cleaning product company and they are hosting a coloring competition. Now wait...just hold on...you don't have to enter the competition if you don't want to. But, if you visit the Method Uk. website, you can download three gorgeous pictures to color. The beauty here, is that you can print the pictures on Copic friendly card stock or even watercolor paper. This gives you the opportunity to explore using other coloring media on these beautiful illustrations. And, should you decide to join in the coloring competition, you could win a bundle of Method products along with a signed copy of Johanna Basford's newest coloring book, Magical Jungle. To download your FREE coloring pages, click HERE.

For those of you who've not seen inside any of these wonderful books, I've included a video here, hosted by Johanna Basford, giving you an up close, page by page flip thru of Magical Jungle. The video is rather lengthy, but Ms. Basford's accent is so delightful, I doubt you'll mind listening in for the full 30 minutes. :)  Click the arrow to begin.

Whatever you choose to color in today, have fun and happy coloring! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings~

Day 22 - 30 Day Coloring Challenge 2

Hello Friends! I am back from my cruise! My brother and I had a blast! There was so much to see and do and we tried to fit in as much as we could. He's a veteran cruiser, takes several a year, this was my first one and I loved it! Can't wait to go again...The ship we were on was called the Inspiration. I thought that was the PERFECT name for a cruise ship for an artsy type person, like me. Here's a little peek at the ship.

We went on the Baja California cruise, to Catalina and Ensenada. It was a really relaxing and enjoyable time. The weather was perfect. We had cool ocean breezes and nice warm sun. My brother spoiled me by ordering room service breakfasts each morning. I ordered smoked salmon rosettes every day, that's my favorite.

Every night we had turn down service and our cabin steward left a different towel animal on my bed. I had a frog, a piggy, an elephant and the last night of the cruise, I got a heart! I wanted to bring them all home with me.

I brought along a small bag of art supplies; a few pre-printed and pre-stamped images, Prismacolor pencils, watercolor brushes and my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens. And one morning, I managed to squeeze in a little time to color. I got a table on the back of the ship and set up to do a little watercoloring. While I was sitting there, several pods of dolphins were jumping around in the ship's wake. It was very cool to witness.

I printed this gorgeous FREE Enchanted Forest Valentine image by Johanna Basford onto a piece of watercolor paper because I wanted to play with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens. There are many things I like about these pens, but one thing that I really LOVE, is that they don't need much water to get a favorable result. They really need no water at all, but with water, one can lighten the colors and get some really nice variations.

click to enlarge

I didn't get a lot accomplished, but I did make an effort! I know I've missed a few days of the challenge, but I have no intention of playing catch-up. I'll just jump right back in today and go forward.

I apologize for the fuzzy photos, they were taken with my cell phone. I tried several times to correct them, but it just wasn't working out. Thanks for stopping by today!


Blessings~

supplies~
digital image: Enchanted Forest Valentine(Johanna Basford)
specialty paper: 140# Cold Press Watercolor Paper(Strathmore)
coloring medium: Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens(Kuretake)
other: #2 watercolor brush(Claudine Helmuth Studios)  #0 watercolor brush(Grumbacher)