Maybe it’s time to figure out how to organize these coloring pages differently. Something more official and respectful than ad hoc blog posts and Google drive links. I’m feeling a reverence for the work I put into this, and for what you (hopefully) get out of it. The time I spend—drawing these individual lines, erasing pencil marks, scanning, digitizing—feels like time spent with you. Albeit in a different space and time.
Coloring page: Alphabet Sampler (with room to sign your name and date between those flowers)
This one is such an old idea. Four years old, actually. I originally designed it to be a needlepoint sampler—I still have a daydream about working this up on a grid, packaging the pattern with Aida cloth, little golden needles, floss. I’ve been waiting for it to be perfect, or for me to have the energy to realize that full dream.
And then here comes a pandemic, helping shift my perspective, and think about what I really wanted out of this work. Which is to say, what I really want is to create something that helps me connect with people. And there’s no reason that this perfectly good idea couldn’t also make a coloring page. It’s so much easier to share. So much easier for you to access. You probably have colored pencils or markers or paint lying around—even shading with a pencil, or hash marks with ink, would elevate the alphabet sampler. And then there you’d be, spending time with me. Albeit in a different space and time.