I used to spend hours with my coloring books, happily and mindlessly filling in the blank spaces with whatever color or pattern came to mind. Unfortunately, coloring book content didn't seem to grow with me, so at some point I stopped coloring and started doodling -- mostly illustrated letters that named each of the members of Duran Duran.It was when I was holiday shopping that I came across a decidedly different coloring book in Amsterdam. Called, "Cahier à Colorier" and featuring offbeat illustrations of people on the cover, I thought it was the most novel and exotic thing in the world. I know that the title means, "A book to be colored," which isn't quite novel or exotic, but the transformative power of written French (which I clearly can't read as well as I used to) and the charming illustrations to French artist Lauranne Quentric made it seem so. I bought it along with a new pack of crayons fully intending to send it off to a friend, but instead tucked into it myself on a rainy afternoon. It brings solace to happily and mindlessly fill in the black spaces of the wacky drawings, using pink and orange to my heart's content and coloring the character's hair acid shades of green just because I can. Some things never change.
La Marelle en Papier carries Lauranne Quentric's coloring book, along with several others by amazing European (mostly French, but not all) illustrators. And if coloring books aren't your thing, but journals, postcards, writing papers or greeting cards are, then peruse the menu to see all the offerings for sale. The site is in French and English for those whose translation skills aren't so great.
From top: goûter, mariage, petit carnet la marelle en papier, cahier d'idées folles et saugrenues. All illustrations by Lauranne Quentric.
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