Daily Archives: January 19, 2016

There are 37 pages of coloring fun in this book about Minka, the Cat. The book begins as her day begins with the sun coming up. We follow her through a forest, down a stream, to the ocean, across a prairie, to a farm, then to a garden party, to a natural aviary, back to the forest and to home. Along the way, we are treated to the many types of animals, fish, birds, and flowers that live and grow in the various places.

It is a beautifully drawn book with lots of fun and interesting coloring opportunities. I love that Minka is a Tuxedo Cat and looks similar to my beautiful Mittens who I lost this year to very old age (almost 19). I will think lovingly of her as I color in this book and I’m sure the artist won’t mind if I think of the cat in this book as my sweet Mittens rather than Minka. The end of the coloring book is almost a promise of more to come with Minka. I hope so as it is a lovely book

The designs in this book are printed on one side of the page; however, the way in which they are printed is interesting. The artist has chosen to print her designs across two pages with a gap in between the pages. She then leaves the backside of both of the pages blank purposefully so you can avoid bleed through issues (see my recommendations below.) Thus, you have two pages of a design, then two blank pages, two pages of a design, etc. All of the designs stop before the margin; however, as they are a continuance of the prior page, there is a large white line in the middle of the design. For the most part, the artist has made sure that no essential elements are lost in the blank area (though there are three pages where I found items split in half or with portions of a tree or blank missing. Because of the way the book is published, I would not consider it suitable for framing but it makes for a wonderful book to color in.

Both alcohol and water based markers bleed through this paper. My gel pens (of all nib size and brands) leave color shadows on the back of the page. My hard coloring pencils leave indents on the backside of the page. Because of all of these issues, I put a chipboard, card stock, or a file folder as a blotter page behind the page I am working on and that saves the rest of the book from any damage done while I am coloring. I will list the coloring mediums that I tested with this book in the comments section below.

The paper on which CreateSpace prints these coloring book is less than optimal. It is thin and doesn’t stand up to repeated blending with pencils or watercolors. They are the venue through which independent artists are publishing their art. Because of this, I am willing to put up with the less than stellar paper to get the huge variety of coloring designs that are made available through this publisher. This book is exactly the interesting and beautiful coloring book that I am so pleased to get through this publisher.