Drawing is my meditation, let colouring be yours!

Black White Mustard is a colouring book project by Maria Ljungeld – a Helsinki-based urban mother by day, a doodler extraordinaire by night. The images are the result of the quiet me-time, between having assisted my beloved child to sleep and midnight, when the sensible thing obviously would be getting my beauty sleep.

Hearing about the benefits of colouring drew me to a quest to find pages to colour. The majority of the designs I found reminded me of wallpaper and that put me off. I wanted to see pictures that felt organic and would surprise me with details and inaccuracies. That’s how I ended up drawing one day, at my kitchen table in the midst of a wonderful discussion, and there I had it — the first design seemed to appear from nowhere. Seeing it wasn’t too shabby, my thinking quickly escalated into a “go big or go home” approach and here I am; an illustrator-wannabe living the dream, drawing my nights away and learning a bunch of useful stuff on the side.

Designs for Grown-ups, Suitable for Children

The creative process has become daily and ongoing, which makes the act of drawing oh-so-enjoyable for yours truly, and results in a broad variety of themes. The drawings are not symmetrical, nor are they supposed to be. All images are drawn by me and by hand, not copied in a computer program. The first designs have a mandala-esque quality to them, but in future I’ll be exploring at least lettering and abstract graphic forms, so prepare for anything. And the answer to one concerned individual: No, all pictures won’t include bling. All content will be safe for the eyes of colouring enthusiasts of all ages.

A Crayon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

As I’ve learned that colouring is good for you and your inner child, I’m challenging everyone to colour a page a week. A new colouring page will be published once a week on Wednesday, but keep an eye out for extra issues I’ll be dropping when I feel like it.

If there is anyone out there interested in partnering with me for a psychological study of the effects of colouring on people, I’ll be eager to hear from you. I’d also love to get contacted with feedback, questions, suggestions, inquiries, job offers even – Hit me!