View source for My Magical Oasis: Art Therapy Colouring Book for Creative Minds by Eglantine de la Fontaine et al

{{infobox1
|title=My Magical Oasis: Art Therapy Colouring Book for Creative Minds
|author=Eglantine de la Fontaine et al
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Yet another colouring book with an adult audience in mind, but one that offers more scope for DIY activity to make it more of a personal achievement.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=128
|publisher=Plexus Publishing Ltd
|date=May 2015
|isbn=9780859655354
|cover=0859655350
|aznuk=0859655350
|aznus=0859655350
}}

It's not often I can review a book and mention how it changes your brain, but that's apparently the effect of the colouring-in-for-adults phenomenon.  There's a science behind it all that attests how alpha waves, a slightly more childlike, accepting, relaxed form of brain activity, are used by our bonces when we colour – and as opposed to the braver, thinking, active beta waves they're something the mind could do more of, especially in this kinetic, plugged-in, 24/7 lifestyle.  So whereas I normally review books to help my readers make their mind up, here I'm mentioning this volume because it allegedly would change your mind. 

In case you are new to the idea, this would appear to be a standard example.  You get over a hundred designs, in sheer black and white line, for you to fill in, adding as much shading or clever-clever artiness as you can muster, leaving you with a pretty (ideally) image, generally of a natural, feminine, pleasant mien.  But in a departure from the other books in this format I've looked at, there are several works here with an obvious lack – a blank space for us to not only fill in but complete.  Butterflies come with no lines on their backs, flowers are the outlines of petals and no more, forests are not fully wooded, other flower motifs are removed from each other and not connected by fractal tendrils as on the facing page.  Apart from the obvious need to be heavy with the colouring to hide the instruction given on each sheet of its type, this chance to embellish the works is probably going to be a welcome one for many. 

That is if the entire variety of the contents isn't enough to sell it.  There are random paisley things, there are birds (and bees), and everything in between.  My favourite was late on, two animal masks that were utterly vivid in black and white before being filled in.  There are things to point out that might change that mind of yours as to how brilliant this volume is – the large format is one for home use, not the commute, yet the double-sided works are for doing then disposing of, and not framing, on the whole.  But out of my limited use of these books I would point this title out as being the most diverse, the most likely to surprise, and perhaps the best balance of high-art difficulty and novelty, throwaway patterning. 

I must thank the publishers for my review copy. 

If you're advanced enough at this thing to go all-out with nature displays, try [[Field Guide: Creatures Great and Small (Field Guides) by Lucy Engelman]]. 

{{toptentext|list=Our Top 10 Colouring Books for Lockdown}}

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