by Eleri Fowler
Published by HarperCollins on March 22nd 2016
Style: double page printing, Instructions - Tips
Pages: 96
Format: Card cover, Glue & Stitched
Goodreads
Celebrate mom with color! Illustrator Eleri Fowler’s intricate, gorgeous illustrations that depict the joy and tenderness of a mother’s love are beautifully represented in this delicately rendered coloring book. From flowers to birds to hearts and more, these pages and pages of delicate pen-and-ink drawings are waiting to be brought to life through your artistry.
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My Mother My Heart Coloring Book Review
My Mother My Heart coloring book is the second coloring book for adults illustrated by talented artist, Eleri Fowler. This book is a collection of images and quotes based around the theme of celebrating your mother (or the person that fills that role for you).
The imagery is similar to the artists first coloring book, Joyous Blooms to Color. It features beautiful florals, birds and a touch of whimsy. There are other images, like yarn and delicious cakes and perfume bottles but on the whole the book is predominantly nature based.
Cover & Layout
The cover of My Mother My Heart is in the same format as Joyous Blooms to Color but the highlight color is teal rather than pink. The cover is beautifully textured and features a partially colored image. The coloring looks like pencil and has a wonderful watercolor type effect. The title is highlighted in blue/turquoise foil. Depending on how you hold the cover the title looks a different color. The spine and tagline for the book is colored in teal. I love that the spine has a different color but similar design to make it easy to find on my crowded bookshelf.
Quotes and large spaced images make this easy to color for all colorists
The book measures 25cm x 25cm (10in x 10in) which is the same size as the artist’s previous coloring book.
The back cover contains a teal colored blurb about the book with a frame of beautiful floral line art. You could color the line art and use it as the frame for a photograph or cut it into bookmarks or gift tags. Personally, I couldn’t bear to cut the book so I will leave mine as it is.
Drawings inspired by nature with a touch of whimsy
Eleri Fowler tends to make her ancillary pages into works of art. Before you dive into the coloring book proper you will be greeted with an exquisite title page which is the cover image for the book. This beautiful line art is ready for you to color and you can use the cover, if you wish, as your inspiration. A double page spread follows which is an extended version of the title page. Over page a lovely dedication has been created featuring owls and acorns. The nameplate page which follows features a wreath in the shape of a heart. On the reverses of the nameplate page are two beautiful love birds surrounded in a floral wreath. The floral wreath theme continues with a larger wreath surrounding a note from the artist. Following this a page of the artist’s influences is surrounded by a frame of florals. A page detailing the creation process is framed in the same style and art. Finally, after all these beautifully presented ancillary pages we can dive into the color book proper!
The artist has provided the colorist with so many beautiful ancillary pages to test out your mediums on and practice techniques before you dive into the beautiful art work that follows.
The only drawback that I have with this book and Joyous Blooms to Color is that the images are printed on both sides of the paper. The drawings are so exquisitely beautiful that I would hate to choose between framing one image and losing the image on the reverse. This is clearly a case for buying two copies of the book 🙂
All of the images have been orientated in portrait style throughout.
Illustrations
The art work that Eleri Fowler produces has such a delicacy about it, yet is strong and bold. This illusion is possibly created by the fine crisp black lines that are used and her use of solid black in parts of images to create more contrast and give a sense of boldness. The line weight is on the whole, with some medium weight lines for clarity and dimension on an image. I find the images visually easy to see, even without my glasses, due to the crispness of the line art.
A variety of images has been included including beautiful floral mandalas
One thing that I really like about Eleri’s work is that she provides a lot of variety within a book. There will be pages of quotes surrounded by lovely floral elements, patterns, mandalas and the bulk of the images are single page scenes with only a few double page spreads. For me, this variety means that I can find an image to work on to suit my mood at the time. Sometimes, I really don’t want to color fiddly bits. On those occasions, I can color the simple lettering. When I have a small amount of time but feel like being more creative, I can color a cup from a double page scene and feel that I have achieved something. For times, when I want to relax, I can select one of the mandalas to color. And finally for those times, when I want to push myself I can color some beautiful flowers, birds and the like.
Images with larger spaces are great for those with visual or motor impairment
The art work in My Mother My Heart tends to fill the whole of the page and has been beautifully positioned in the book and nicely centered. Most of the art work is contained within the page. There are some images where the background pattern is edge to edge on the paper. This results in some elements being cut off (ie half a leaf shows etc).
There are images that nestle in the spine which can be tricky to color, particularly with the double page scenes. Breaking the book apart may be the solution (although I would be reluctant to do that). I have found with enough of my girly force I can get the book to lay down to reach these areas.
You need to forcefully push down to color in the spine area of the book
There are a number of elements within images that have large open spaces suitable for those with visual and other health issues to enjoy. There are a handful of illustrations that have smaller elements to color which may prove difficult for some colorists. Personally, as there are so many lovely illustrations to choose from, I will bypass any that are too fiddly for my eyesight. If I do attempt them, I will need to switch on my magnifying lamp which generally solves any visual issues that I may have.
There are a number of pages of patterns, sewing, teacups, perfume bottles and the like
My Mother My Heart Coloring Book Video Review
Enjoy the video review of My Mother My Heart by Eleri Fowler.
Where to buy My Mother My Heart
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Book Depository |
It goes without saying that My Mother My Heart would make a lovely gift for the special person in your life on their Birthday, Mother’s Day the festive season or just because 🙂
Happy coloring x
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