Fanciful Folk Art Coloring Book Paperback – January 26, 2016

The media could not be loaded.  I really enjoy American folk art and have seen self-taught artist Karla Gerard's original artwork (online) and her rug patterns before, so when I came across a coloring book of her original, hand-drawn designs, I was thrilled to be able to purchase and color in it. “Fanciful Folk Art” is a wonderful collection of 45 modern American folk art designs. The designs have the almost child-like quality that one expects with folk art and that is what draws me to this style. The pictures are much more sophisticated than what a child would draw but it evokes that response in me. I love to pick up colors and work in big blocks without much consideration (except, perhaps, contrast.) I only have one other coloring book that I consider to be American folk art so getting a book with so many great designs has been wonderful.The designs in the coloring book are printed on one side of medium weight non-perforated paper. I was able to get the book to lay flat by slightly breaking the spine. The binding is glued rather than sewn so you will have to cut pages out if you wish to remove them. The designs all stop well before the margins so you won't lose any portion of them if you cut them out. The artist has included a framing line around all of her designs. I really appreciate this as it gives me a natural stopping point and keeps me from wasting ink and time. It is also very frustrating to try to draw at the edge of a design when the elements are not finished – the framing line solves this and makes coloring easy and more fun.Both my alcohol and water based markers seeped through the paper. My gel pens and India ink markers left color shadows on the back of the page. My coloring pencils worked well according to type (soft or hard lead.) My soft lead pencils went on smoothly and my hard lead pencils did not leave an indent on the back of the page. As I certainly plan to use markers in this book, I will put a piece of card stock or chipboard behind the page I am working on to keep ink from seeping through to the following pages. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring mediums I used to test this coloring book.

Really stunning folk art coloring pages of many different delightful designs. I've colored mine with Sharpie markers (ultra fine point), and have had no bleed-through at all so far. (I did place a blank sheet of paper behind each design as I colored in the event it did bleed through.) I did notice a little bit of "color spread" with a few of the markers, but not significant if you concentrate on applying the color in small increments from the middle out. Not different from most coloring paper on the market these days. If you like this kind of art, this folk art coloring book will bring you many hours of relaxation and enjoyment! (Like adventuring through those delightful fairy tales your grandmother used to tell you at bedtime!)

I've been coloring for years and years. I know what I like and this is my NEW FAVORITE! art work nice and folky and just perfectly different. Happy, happy lol

I think “fanciful” is a good name for these drawings. The drawings invite playing with color. The print quality is good and the drawings are on one side of the page only - something I look for in coloring books. (I hate it when I have to worry about water color markers bleeding through the paper and ruining the drawing on the back.

This is the coloring book I have been waiting for since I started collecting! There are 45 images on one-sided paper and I actually like every one of them. Most are wonderfully whimsical folk art houses like the cover with a few very unique handsome women, some animals and a couple of florals, all done in a way that can't help but make me smile. I love this book!

Love this book. The pictures lend themselves perfectly to folk art style coloration. Gives the freedom to experiment and expand your own folk art style.

I've noticed recently that when I choose a page to color, I've been gravitating to folk art. I loved the colorful cover on this, so I took a chance without even looking at the reviews. I absolutely love it! Great pictures to color, single-sided, perforated, and decent paper. Thank you, Karla Gerard, I can't wait to get started!

I love whimsical coloring books. This book allows you to explore many color combos.

The delivery was well with the stated time. The book is very good.

Il libro è in ottime condizioni come dovrebbe essere ogni libro venduto come nuovo. Mi piace molto questa disegnatrice che ho conosciuto, per caso, su Internet. Le sue creazioni hanno uno stile innovativo e, nonostante i suoi disegni siano abbastanza semplici, i dettagli ed i colori li rendono unici nel loro genere.

This book contains some of her best stuff; she hasn't held back. It's a great book and I'm so impressed with the art Karla has included. Buy this book!

Maravilhoso livro de colorir para adultosFolk Art da tão talentosa Karla GerardObrigada AmazonMelhor loja virtual do mundo!!!!

I absolutely LOVE this coloring book! It is exactly what I was looking for. Shipping was super-fast. Thank you, Amazon!