The best way to relax, recover and reconnect just might be found within the pages of a coloring book.
That’s the idea that came to Janet Gray Coonce last spring, when the debilitating joint pain she’d suffered from for years nearly immobilized her. “I wasn’t able to laugh, drive over speed bumps or put on my own shoes,” she told me. Such a problem would be horrible for anyone, but for a woman in her mid-forties who’s been extraordinarily active all her life, it was tragic. Janet’s a runner. Bicyclist. Swimmer. Skier. Skydiver. And a potter, which is a physically demanding hobby.
She also teaches chemistry at Tennessee Tech and is a wife and the mother of two busy daughters, both in their late teens.
Her solution to all this stress? Coloring. “I wanted to sit quietly with God and create something,” she said. That’s how her “Coloring Retreat” book was born. Janet, who’s also a skilled pen-and-ink and watercolor artist, began playing around with patterns and designs that could be colored in. “I let my mind go to a peaceful place and simply watched my hand draw,” she told me.
The tools for this creative process came from her family. The desk where she worked was built for her late grandmother by her late grandfather. Her pen stylus was a gift from one of her daughters, her tablet a gift from her dad and the necessary software a gift from her husband Daniel, a computer whiz who helped Janet make high-quality images suitable to print. The problem? Ink for the 51 pages Janet had created would cost about 25 dollars if they used their home printer. That’s a lot of money for a coloring book
The solution? Amazon, which offers print-on-demand services that enabled Janet to set a $9.99 price for her book. “I won’t get rich selling them,” she said with a laugh, “but doing it this way hopefully makes the book affordable for anybody who wants one.”
Her first family coloring retreat took place when her niece and nephew, who live clear across the country, visited Cookeville earlier this month. Gathered around a dining table, kids and adults— ranging in age from 11 to 70-something—put their screens away and colored. “It was an amazing time of peace and laughter and quiet conversation,” Janet said. She’d wondered if her active 13-year-old nephew would buy into this sedentary activity, but he turned out to be perhaps the biggest fan. “This coloring is addicting!” he declared.
When “Coloring Retreat: A Book of Peaceful Patterns and Designs” became available on Amazon, I ordered myself a copy. I also bought a set of alcohol-based art markers with dual tips. Janet believes that any coloring tool—be it crayon, colored pencil, gel pen or something else–is perfect as long as the artist likes it.
When the book arrived I immediately began exploring the drawings, which are lovely. Some are detailed and complex. Others have simple shapes and thick black lines, perfect for little kids or anyone with limited time or patience. Some patterns show up again on different pages, except they’re zoomed in or out. There are raindrops and rainbows and flowers and leaves and hearts and birds and pinwheels and candle flames and a whole lot of other things.
I couldn’t wait to start coloring.
Except I couldn’t find time to do it. Between working at the election office and getting my writing done and a whole lot of other stuff, I was too busy to relax and color. And, yeah, I see the irony in that. Finally, on July 18—the last evening of the Republican National Convention—I turned on the TV and settled in with my coloring book and markers while the GOP nominee for President droned on and on and on.
It would be untrue to say I remained calm during his interminable 93-minute speech. But coloring helped just a little.
(July 27, 2024)