Creative Haven Beautiful Birds Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: Dot Barlowe
Rating: 5 of 5
My husband and I have started using Adult Coloring Books as a way to de-stress. I know that many crafts use the same part of the brain that one uses in meditation, so I wasn’t surprised to read that many other adults were turning to coloring. I have bought several different types of books and I find that I like a lot of the ones by Creative Haven/Dover. I have found that my non-alcohol based markers and my gel pens all leak through this brand of book, so I am sure to place paper between the pages to keep the pages behind fresh and clean. I’ve found that freezer paper works really well for this purpose.
The pages of the book are single-sided and are perforated at the bound edge so you can remove the page to color or to frame afterwards. The pages are a bright white and have a decent pound weight – they are not flimsy. What is really nice about this particular book is that, if you chose to color the pages realistically, the author/illustrator has included a color guide for each of the 31 print included in the book. The birds are shown in natural habitat style outdoor settings but you can decide to mix it up and use any color you wish.
The illustrations by Dot Barlowe are quite lovely and include the following birds:
Painted buntings, Baltimore orioles, Bobwhite quails, Carolina wrens, Eastern bluebirds, Ruby-throated hummingbirds, Roseate spoonbills, Cedar waxwings, Barn swallow, Brown pelicans, Monk parakeets, Northern flicker, Tuamoto sandpiper, Belted kingfisher, a montage of House finch, white throated sparrow, house sparrows, song sparrow, and chipping sparrow, also included are American flamingos, Northern cardinals, Red-tailed hawk, Eastern rosette, Osprey, Snowy Owl, Laysan albatross, Wild turkeys, Ring-necked pheasants, Herring gull, Sharp-tailed grouse, Mute swan, Great blue heron, Purple gallinute, Sanderlings, and Wood duck.
The illustrations contain quite a bit of detail, so it is a nice challenge for me. Of the color books I have purchased recently, this one is my husband’s favorite as he is quite the bird lover. When it arrived, he went through it and called dibs on the pages he wanted to work (and penciled his initials on the back page. He had already “called” about three quarters of them before I even got to look at the book! That’s okay, the price is so reasonable that I can buy another one if we have a dispute about who gets what. It’s really nice to have a relatively inexpensive hobby that is so relaxing at the same time.