GIVEAWAY and Review – My Mystical Wonderland: Art Therapy Colouring Book For Creative Minds

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My Mystical Wonderland: Art Therapy Colouring Book for Creative Minds (Crafts) is published and was kindly sent to me for review and a UK giveaway (see details at the end of this review) by Plexus Books. In short, this book is stunning and, in my opinion, comes close to rivalling the current bestsellers in the field. This book is the second in the series and my review of the first can be found here. This square book is paperback, glue-bound and contains a whopping 101 images that are printed double-sided with no border so a small amount of the image is lost into the spine until this loosens up with use. The paper is white and medium thickness with a little texture so it is ideal for use with pencils, but not so great with fineliners as they shadow a little but they don’t bleed through. Always test in an inconspicuous area to avoid ruining an image that you’re desperate to colour on the back if your pens bleed.

The images in this book are fairly cohesive and there is a lovely flora and fauna theme running through it though there are a few very different image styles which are dotted throughout and seem a little out of character in comparison to the majority of the book. Mostly though, this book has a great flow and contains heaps of images of flowers, animals, patterns and mandalas to keep you colouring for weeks. The images vary in intricacy level but this is not a book for beginners or those with poor eyesight or fine motor control issues because mostly the images are intricate-highly intricate with a lot of detail added to most so good visual acuity and a steady hand will be a must! The line thickness varies from spindly thin to thick and chunky but mostly resides in the thin (but not too thin) area. Many of the images are realistically drawn but there are also a huge number of stylised and almost cartoon-style drawings. Some of the images are double-page spreads and others show a pattern or whole image on one side and then a zoomed in or repeated version on the opposite page creating a really nice pair without them being matching. There is no pre-added colour in this book but there are a number of pages that have gaps and spaces and written hints about what you can add there so for those of you that like drawing there is scope to add to and embellish this book. This book follows the same format as the first in the series – My Magical Oasis, and if you liked that book then you’re sure to love this one too! A whole host of plants and creatures are included in these images from unicorns to deer, flower trees to mushrooms, peacocks to frogs, geckos to beetles, dragons to elephants and many more things including fruit, flowers and feathers as well as a host of abstract patterns.

In terms of mental health, this book is a great one and should definitely be added to your collection. The sheer variety of image content means this book was already onto a winner but the level of intricacy and detail in the majority of the images means that it’s perfect for keeping you focused and occupied. Those of you who have days of poor concentration will be able to use one of the simpler images contained within to still get your colouring fix but these are sparing so those of a moderate to advanced level of colouring would be best suited to this book. That said, I found it really relaxing, calming and distracting and it’s staying firmly in my “to keep” pile as it’s joined my ever-growing favourites list. As you’ll have seen in my other reviews, I rate books with natural images of animals and flowers very highly because they seem to have the greatest calming effect on me. I also find it very soothing colouring natural images because I’m virtually housebound and don’t often get the chance to go outside and experience these things in the real world anymore so being able to colour my own flowers and animals is a helpful way in which I can reconnect with nature without my anxiety disorders kicking off and ruining my enjoyment of it.

This book really is a mystical wonderland of reality and fantasy and totally brings you back to nature. This is a fabulous book for calming your thoughts and has more than enough detail to keep you focused and distracted from worries and stresses. I would highly recommend it, in particular to those of you who are fans of JB and MM’s work as this book is somewhere inbetween but with its own unique and beautiful style.

If you’d like to purchase a copy then it’s available here:
Amazon UK – My Mystical Wonderland: Art Therapy Colouring Book for Creative Minds (Crafts)
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/My-Mystical-Wonderland-Eglantine-De-La-Fontaine/9780859655439/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The images below were coloured using Stabilo 68 Fibre-tip pens, Steadtler Triplus Fibre-tip pens and Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners.

GIVEAWAY – If you live in the UK and would like to win a copy of this beautiful book then head over to my Facebook page here and enter via the pinned post at the top of the page. You have until 8pm GMT on Sunday the 24th of January to enter! Good luck!