Zenspirations series by Joanne Fink

4/8/2015

Joanne Fink is a multi-faceted artist, calligrapher, teacher, designer and author, amongst other things. No wonder she created a series of books to wind down and relax at the end of a busy day! Each book is designed with the colourist in mind, with lots of blank spaces left to add your own squiggles and patterns to really make the piece your own. It's not essential however, each design works well as a standalone colouring page so if putting your own fillings into a space isn't your bag, you don't have to. If you would like to have a go, Joanne has left a handy guide of techniques to help you create patterns if you're not sure where to begin.

It's well known that doodling is an excellent way to 'let go' mentally and let your mind drift, the pen flowing mindlessly on the page, so it's nice to combine colouring and doodling for extra relaxation. Each book has its own theme but are all in Joanne's effortless, simple style. Inspirations features meaningful sentiments alongside the colouring designs. Abstract is full of geometric swirls and shapes, perfect for filling with zentangles. Flowers is ideal for practicing blending and shading, with large empty petals just waiting for colour. Take a look at the slideshow below and see what you think of all 3 books.

Paper quality is good, each design one-sided to allow alcohol markers or even watercolour painting if you wanted to. Once you've created your masterpiece, perforated pages allow easy removal for framing and displaying.

If you love adding pattern and texture to your art, I'd recommend any of these books to really get your creative juices flowing. If you just want to colour, this series allows for that too- it's totally up to you how you use them. I decided just to colour my pictures, as I wanted you to see how they looked without any additions. I used Spectrum Noir for these.