Birds in Flowering Tree - Art Therapy

Initial review and first piece from Art Therapy - The Enchanted Forest.

Recently I jumped head first onto the creative train of adult colouring. As someone who works anywhere from 50-80 hours a week, and has a LOT of trouble switching off my 'work mode', I was really eager once I read about how therapeutic colouring is. I really enjoy this as a main hobby, and whilst I am still refining my technique and general colour palettes, it is a great way to quieten my mind and keep it focused on a simple task instead of work.

I purchased The Enchanted Forest via the Book Depository (my favourite place to browse and buy books). Initially I was on the fence about this book because frankly there are NO previews pretty much anywhere on the net that I could find, and when you're buying books $20 isn't really a bit of loose change. However given that it has 100 designs, I decided to go ahead and try my luck.

My first piece is the birds in flowering tree. Pages in The Enchanted Forest aren't numbered, but this is in the first half. I didn't find the design particularly challenging, it was completed within 2-3 hours. I used the thicker felt pen for the tree trunk which I later regretted, in future I'll be purchasing felt pens with a small tip. I did find that tree was hard to follow through the foliage, it was a bit easy to lose which part was tree and which wasn't. However overall it was  fun piece, and I like the contrasting colours I used.

The pens I used for this piece are the Faber-Castell Connector Pens (not pictured), Staedtler Triplus 0.3mm Fineliners and a Stabilo Point 88 0.4mm Fineliner.

The Enchanted Forest basics:
Available: Yes
Price: $20-$25 AUD
Size: A hefty Hardback - 128 pages at 206mm x 292mm x 20mm, weighing 839g.
Paper: Smooth quality, thick, colour does not show through to other side. No bleeding.
Designs: I'm really on the fence about this. There are some fun illustrations but most seem a bit chopped/pasted together. There are varying line widths which really bother me because they don't make sense - on a lot of pages it seems out of place and ruins the aesthetic. I wish the designs were more creative and diverse. However, many desgins have varying levels of detail which I feel will appeal various skill/enthusiasm levels. Overall though I like the quality of the book, and there are many designs within that I know I will enjoy.
Tools: So far I have only used fine-tipped pens plus Connector pens. I would recommend using fine-tipped pens, including fine-tipped felt pens, as lines do show easily.
Would I recommend it? Yes.

Thank you for reading!