FACT: I've never been much for coloring books. Too judgmental about my color sense, even as a kid. Which is why it's deliciously ironic that the idea of putting together a packet of Bryn Athyn Historic District coloring pages showed up on my creative door step!
The idea arrived on moonlight, in the wee small hours of Friday morning. By lunchtime, a full-blown image was in my mind. All inspired by a grannie client coloring butterflies, with Frank Sinatra crooning in the background.
"Coloring With Sinatra" has become a regular Wednesday night gig over at the grannie client's mega nice senior community. I set out small squat square glass vases filled with crayons, markers & colored pencils, grouped in colors - reds, blues, greens...
The coloring pages are lovely, carefully chosen for their simplicity ~ having options does wonders for minds & spirits that have precious few choices in their day, but too many can be numbing, so the pictures are elegant, but with precious little detail.
As my older friend colored in her butterfly, my brain started thinking about getting simple line drawings of places super dear to her heart - Bryn Athyn Cathedral, Glencairn, Cairnwood, the oft-neglected Cairncrest (aka to Anne - "Uncle Harold & Aunt Clara's house"), along with the Brickman Center, the Doering Science Center.
From that small seedling of an idea, the entire project grew into something seriously exciting.
Am envisioning two different packets of coloring pictures - one in a very basic, easy-to-color style; the other more detailed, for advanced colorists. The basic images would be printed on smooth card stock, with a higher-end paper for the advanced, and well-written & stylishly lettered descriptions - and photographer/artist credits - printed on the back.
Packaging would be simple (there's that word again!), a large white envelope, beautifully lettered Welcome to Bryn Athyn. They could be sold in the gift shop of each building.
Although I am not a illustrator, this is something my background in corporate marketing communications leaves me ready, willing & blissfully able to roll out.
If need be, I can even bankroll the early part, retrieving my costs from early sales, after which 100% of income would go to the building where it sold. While my hope is that photographers give free use of their pictures & the line drawings are done by artists for the sheer joy of the creating (along with prominent credit), this approach frees me to offer payment. Not ideal, but I'm okay with whatever has to be done to make this so!
Done well, this could be simple (again!) to produce, marketed at a reasonable cost, provide a lovely item for the various gift shops, maybe even sell at Bryn Athyn Bounty Farm Market.
My mind heart soul is filled with packets of pages beckoning to be called out of my imagination into the "Oh, I've GOT to get one!" here & now...
Credits:
cairnwood.org
devinm77.wordpress.com
getawaymavens.com
sylviagrace.deviantart.com
traditionalproductreports.com
flickriver.com
mywedding.com
fanpop.com
