Review: Secret Garden: Artist's Edition by Johanna Basford

Secret Garden: Artist's Edition by Johanna Basford (review copy) - Following the chart topping success of Johanna Basford's Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, Laurence King Publishing release Secret Garden: Artist's Edition. A special edition of the world's most popular colouring book, it features 20 beautiful, pull-out and frame posters, each carefully printed onto high-quality card. Secret Garden: Artist's Edition will allow colouring fans of all ages to display their intricate creations beyond the pages of their colouring book for the first time. From the press release.

When I was offered the chance to review Secret Garden: Artist's Edition by Johanna Basford, I jumped at the chance. I had just bought  myself Enchanted Forest as I couldn't resist the beautiful illustrations, so being able to own this edition of Secret Garden too was just awesome.


What's great about this edition of Secret Garden is that it allows you to pull the pages out after you're done to frame on put on your wall. With the Basford's illustrations as gorgeous as they are, it's not hard to see why someone would want them on their wall after adding some colour. The Artist's Edition has 20 of the illustrations in the original colouring book, which have been blown up onto really good quality card. Apart from a small flower in the centre of the other side, all illustrations are one-sided.




Because of the illustrations, both in this and Enchanted Forest, I was a little weary of colouring them, in case I "ruined" the beauty that was already there, and with the quality of the card being what it is, I felt this even more. I gave it a go anyway. Inspired by the metallic gold on the cover, I decided to try colouring with my metallic pens. One great thing about the quality of the card is that it's thick enough that ink doesn't bleed through. However, my problem was I underestimated the size of the nibs on some of my pens; for some of the smaller sections, they were far too big to colour in between the lines neatly. I had already started, though, and so decided to continue, but as I'd already bodged it a little bit, it took the pressure off being too precise and neat. I know I'm just an amateur at colouring, but I think the result isn't too bad, despite it not being perfect.


However, there is a problem with how the card reacts when it gets wet; if the ink from the pens is thick, or if you're required to colour in a certain area several times - which I was, due to fading pens (which annoyed me, they were brand new) - the ink can wear at the card, and fibres start to disintegrate from the page, leaving a rough and bitty finish when you're done (see below), which I wasn't pleased about. So you might want to think about steering clear of felt tips.


Overall, beautiful illustrations and a fantastic idea. Some of them I would even consider hanging up without even adding colour, so it's a wonderful product. Just think carefully about which media you use.

Thank you to Laurence King Publishing via Midas PR for the review copy.



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Published: 7th September 2015
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
Johanna Basford's Website

Review: Colour Me Mindful Series - Underwater, Birds and Tropical by Anastasia Catris

Colour Me Mindful Series by Anastasia Catris (review copies)



These intricate and beautifully detailed line drawings are ready for you to bring to life. Relieve stress, practice your mindfulness, and discover your creative side as you unplug and slow down by filling these exquisite pages with colour.

No matter our age, useful mindfulness techniques can help re-center us amidst a world of noisy stimuli constantly vying for our attention. Colouring can act like a tranquil meditation—relax and unwind with this calming colouring book for adults featuring beautifully detailed line drawings and designs of soothing ocean motifs. From Goodreads.
I've really been into colouring lately, so when I first heard about the Colour Me Mindful Series by Anastasia Catris, I knew I had to give them a go. Full of such beautiful illustrations, this series will give you hours of entertainment.


From Colour Me Mindful Underwater

From Colour Me Mindful Underwater
This first Colour Me Mindful collection includes Underwater, Birds and Tropical colouring books. Each book starts with an introduction (the same introduction in each book) from Oli Doyle, who is the author of Mindfulness Plain & Simple and Mindfulness for Life. Oli talks about how the rushing about of day-to-day life can cause stress and exhaustion, but focusing on the moment "as it is" will  help you to relieve your stress, and bring more happiness to your life.

"As you colour with focus and attention, your stress will start to fade. As you watch closely to stay within the lines, your worries will lessen. And as you lose yourself in the wonders of colour and creativity, your surroundings will come alive and seem a little brighter. [...] Learning to focus and enjoy simple things like colouring once more can lead to the happiness everyone deserves." (p1-2)

I must admit that I do find myself lost in the moment when colouring, my mind devoid of all thought except what colours to use for which section, which shades would be most realistic (which is as I prefer to colour), and time flies by. So there might be something to mindfulness and colouring, however, I wouldn't say that it made my surroundings come alive and seem brighter.


From Colour Me Mindful Birds

From Colour Me Mindful Birds
The illustrations in the book are wonderful. They're so gorgeous and detailed, it's almost worrying considering adding colour, in case I "ruin" them. There are a range of illustrations, from quite realistic to patterned depending on your mood and - if you're me - what you feel capable of without feeling overwhelmed. I find just looking at some of the detailed illustrations - in any colouring book -  cause my eyes to go strange and start to give me a headache because there are just too many details. The simpler illustrations work better for me, but if you like a challenge, there's something for you, too.


From Colour Me Mindful Tropical

From Colour Me Mindful Tropical
I tried giving felt tips a go in Underwater, and I'm not sure. I don't know whether it's the way I colour, or if it's the felt tips themselves, but I just don't think it looks very good, I don't like the affect, hence the picture below being incomplete. As you can see, there's an illustration on both sides of a page, and unfortunately the felt tips I used bled through to the other side a little bit. If you want to use felt tips in these books, make sure you're sure the colour won't bleed through, first.


From Colour Me Mindful Underwater


From Colour Me Mindful Underwater
Overall, a really fantastic, gorgeous collection! I'm really looking forward to trying out the second collection, which includes

Thank you to Orion for the review copies.

Add the Colour Me Mindful Series to Goodreads by clicking the images below.


Published: 30th July 2015 Publisher: Orion BooksAnastasia Catris' Website 

Review: Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper

Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper (review copy) - Life is a wonderful adventure, and all of our dreams can come true! Hold on to your dreams with Creative Coloring Inspirations, the coloring book that offers hope and encouragement on every page. Inside you ll find 30 relaxing activities designed to motivate your creativity and stimulate your spirit. Team up with talented artist Valentina Harper as you personalize her exquisite line drawings. Valentina combines exhilarating words with flowing, intricate, and highly detailed patterns. Best-selling craft author Marie Browning joins in with beautifully colored examples of finished work. Printed on high quality extra-thick paper that won t bleed through, all pages are pre-perforated for easy removal and display. They're perfect for decorating with markers, gel pens, watercolors, or colored pencils. From Goodreads.

The adult colouring craze has become a big deal recently, so I thought I would see what it's all about. GMC Distributions sent me a copy of Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper, from Design Originals, to review.

There are four colouring books in the Creative Coloring series; as well as Inspirations, there's also Flowers, Animals and Mandalas. I love a good inspirational quote, so I went with this colouring book hoping that, as well as having the calming and stress relieving affect colouring is supposed to have, the quotes would give me something additional to smile over.

The colouring book starts off with some notes and tips from Harper. Over and again she emphasises that there is no right or wrong way to colour in, and we are free to experiment and try different things with our colouring - something I was quite pleased with; having not coloured since I was a child, and seeing just how amazing some people can colour in (seriously, just look up #adultcolouring on Instagram and prepare to be amazed!), I was feeling a little disheartened, knowing I'm not that good. So I was glad to be reminded that whatever the result of my colouring, all that mattered was that I had fun with it.

Harper goes through the different media that can be used, and shows how each would turn out, to help you decide which look you want to go for, and which medium to use.


She then discusses basic colour ideas, and different ways to colour in the shapes in her illustrations, helping you choose which you prefer.


Harper talks you through basic colour tips, going through the primary, secondary and tertiary colours, and different combinations that work together - or contrasting colours depending on the affect you're after.


And then we have some examples of Harper's illustrations coloured in by fellow artist and author, Marie Browning. Here are two examples



With each example, we're told not only what media was used, but what makes, as well as the kind of tones Browning went for.

And then it's on to choose which illustrations you would like to colour. Originally, I was a bit daunted by some of the illustrations, because they were quite detailed, busy and complicated. For me, this seemed the opposite of calming and stress-relieving, seeming a bit chaotic and the tiny shapes would do my eyes in, causing me to have trouble focusing on the image. But for those wanting to challenge themselves, they're great. Fortunately, for those of us who are newbies just starting with adult colouring, there are smaller, simpler, cleaner illustrations to get going with.



The inspirational words to colour are pretty great, a nice little reminder while you're colouring to keep you chin up and remember the good things in life. Each page is perforated, so once you're done, you can pull them out to hang up, put on your fridge or share with a friend. On the reverse of each page, there is an inspiring quote by various well known people, giving you a reason to pause, reflect, and smile.


After flicking through, I decided on an illustration to colour and got to it. I didn't realise just how long it would take! I got engrossed in what I was doing, and time flew by without me realising.


If you're going to colour, you really need to have a spare few hours in which to do it in. I kept thinking about how it was taking so long, and how I was hoping to do some reading, but that didn't look like it was going to happen, and so I tried to be quicker - until I decided to stop for the day, as it started to feel slightly like a chore.


But by the time I finished it the next day, I found I enjoyed the whole experience. I'll just have to make sure I have more time to simply colour next time.


Please excuse the smudges.
I used the advice Harper gave to try and see what worked for me. I both coloured individual shapes in different colours and I coloured some sections all the same colour. Some of my art lessons from school came back to me, such as things on tone and shading, though I forgot until later that it's better to start from the top left and work your way down and to the right to stop smudging what you've already coloured with your hand when colouring elsewhere. So yeah, a few mistakes there which you can see. But I'm generally quite happy with what I did, and really enjoyed it!

Despite how much I enjoyed it, while flicking through, I did feel that the illustrations where kind of samey; although the illustrations as a whole were each very different, the patterns used - especially all the circles - were repeated too often for my liking. Although I'd be colouring a different illustration, I'd still be colouring the same patterns, and I think I'd get a lit bit tired of the same thing over and over. It's great to have to dip in and out of, but I don't hink it's the kind of book I'd enjoy completing all at once.

Creative Coloring Inspirations is a great and enjoyable colouring book, with great tips and ideas to inspire and encourage experimentation as you colour.

Thank you to Design Originals and GMC Distribution for the review copy.



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Published: January 2015
Publisher: Design Originals
Valentina Harper's Website