The art of mindful colouring

by Katy Grimshaw, Senior Designer.

As soon as we are born our tiny little hands will want to instinctively reach out and grab what is nearest to us. Your mother’s hair, your dad’s little finger, your siblings t-shirt or that intriguing musical toy that someone is waving at you. And then, one day someone will give you a crayon or a piece of chalk, a pencil or even a felt tip pen and you will find a surface to touch it with (hopefully not the walls). Just like that away you go, you are expressing yourself in an artistic way and being creative for the first time. For me it was the walls, which were heavily artexed and washable paint did not yet exist, so my parents quickly supplied me with paper and plenty of it! What started off as colourful scribbles with me learning to move my hands and enjoying the colours they produced soon became doddles of things I recognised all be it in stick format which proudly got displayed on my parent’s fridge. Then one birthday my sister bought me a colouring book and this posed whole new set of challenges of how to stay within the lines, did I use the correct colours, needless to say this took me quite a few years to perfect. My parents recollect that when I was busy colouring away I was peaceful, occupied and most of all happy.

Today I’m still an avid doodler, I’m always scribbling ideas for clients and colouring in flooring plans for my pre-construction team. I love that my job allows me to practice this daily! Today colouring in has become a highly popular adult hobby with mindful colouring books available in abundance covering a wide variety of topics from gardening to unicorns from sports to animals, everyone can find one to suit their interests.

Studies show that there is a clear correlation between mindfulness and art therapy. Calming colouring pages, along with other tasks with predictable outcomes such as drawing, journaling and knitting, are perfect de-stress-er activities and do wonders for relaxing your mind. Being mindful means being present and aware of the moment. It means taking the time to focus on how you feel and what is happening around you. I didn’t realise at the time but this is exactly what I was doing as a young child, I wasn’t thinking about anything, I was relaxed and calm. So why not indulge in a bit of colouring in over the next few weeks, if not with your kids, then by yourself, in the garden, on the sofa, staying in the lines or not, do what feels right for you in that moment.