Creative Haven The American House Architecture Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: A. G. Smith
Rating: 5 of 5
There are 31 designs in this coloring book which are, according to the blurb at the front of the book, a new selection of plates from The American House Styles of Architecture Coloring Book originally published in 1983. While I don’t have that book or another one from 1988 that may contain some or most of the designs in this book, I have seen designs from both. What is different about this book is that 1) the designs are printed on one side of the page and 2) the description of the house is now printed on the back of the page instead of the bottom of the page. Based on the size of the designs, I would like that they may have enlarged the designs a bit as well as there was no longer a need to accommodate the printed words.
The designs begin with a Saltbox house (Jethro Coffin House, Nantucket circa 1686) and continue through the history of American homes and ending with a Sustainable style house (designed by John Milnes Baker, 1981.) What is interesting to note is that the last home would have been very current when the first coloring book was published in 1983 but is now 35 years old and newer styles of architecture are not present in this coloring book.
I enjoyed that the artist included people and backgrounds to the architectural designs. It made coloring even more fun. For my first project, I chose to do a New England Georgian house (Richard Derby House, Salem Massachusetts, 1762.) The house style is one of symmetry and is made of brick construction. I used a variety of alcohol-based markers to finish the design. I will include photos of it as well as the two colored samples from the book.
This is what I found in coloring and testing this book:
31 Historical styles of American houses (reprints from previous Dover coloring book) with description of house and style on the back of the page.
Printed on one side of white page
Page is white, slightly rough, and perforated
Glue Bound
Designs stop before the perforation and have a framing line on the outside of the designs.
Alcohol and water based markers seep through this paper. The alcohol markers bleed through immediately while the water-based markers leave heavy spots of color. I use a blotter page under my working page or I remove each page at the perforation before coloring.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with this standard Creative Haven paper. Soft lead lays down good color, layers and blends well. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.