After my last exhibition so many people told me that my illustrations would lend themselves perfectly to a colouring book. After months of hard work my colouring book “Familiar Friends” is finally ready. It’s been so much fun to see this project come together and I am very proud of the accomplishment to have published my first book.
The illustrations within my colouring book are portraits, exploring the physical nature, personality and character traits of people I have met. To me seeing an animal in a person is just like looking up into the sky and seeing animals form within the clouds. The portraits consist of simple line drawings and geometric patterns inspired by folk art from all over the world, including Swiss Bauernmalerei and paper cuts.
Many of us live stressful and hectic lives and we all find different ways to cope. I am sure you remember colouring as a kid and might think that you are too old to pick up your crayons again. But not so fast! Research has shown that even short times of colouring can reduce your stress levels and increase creativity. So much so that even the corporate world has taken notice and offices have started doing colouring sessions to decrease their employee’s stress levels and at the same time increase their creativity.
Give the gift of relaxation this Christmas! Available for $19.75 (SFR. 19.75) at McNally Robinson (in-store and online – they ship worldwide).
If you are local and want to get your hands on a copy right away pick up your own copy at McNally or email me at anjastudios@shaw.ca and we can arrange delivery.
A special thanks to Kyle for all his support, to Rob for doing an amazing job with the layout of the book, to Lindsay for proof reading and to Emily for creating this beautiful video to help me launch my book! Couldn’t have done this without you!
Ciao
Xoxo
Anja
[…] colouring book is called Familiar Friends. In her blog, she explains that all of the illustrations are portraits of people she knows. Her style was […]