Whatever Is Lovely: A Coloring Book for Reflection and Worship

The media could not be loaded.  This is a really wonderful coloring book filled with hand-drawn designs. I find that the when I start to color, I stop and reflect on either the excerpt Bible verse or the quote. I then keep that in mind throughout my coloring session. The designs in the book are quite lovely. They are open and flowing and while a few of them contain intricate details, for the most part, I find them easy to color. I had not thought of coloring as a form of worship before, but I now see that it absolutely is – my inner self expresses the feelings and emotions through this medium as well as through song and other artistic endeavors.I love that so many Christian coloring books are now becoming available for the adult colorist. This book is different from the other few that I have in that it includes not only specific verses from the Bible but also words of encouragement from hymns, preachers, teachers, and writers. The design is matched to the words and on the backside of each design, the full Bible verse, quote, hymn, and/or publishing cite is listed so you can look up the information for yourself. I also like that the artist attribution(s) are listed on the back, too.The Bible verses are from both the Old and New Testament and are from a variety of translations, including: Holy Bible NIV, King James Version, “The Message”, and the New Living Translation.The designs in this book are printed on one side of the paper (with full cite and quote information as mentioned above printed on the backside of each page.) The paper used is fairly heavyweight and is non-perforated. The binding is glued rather than sewn, so you will have to cut pages out of the book if you wish to remove them. A number of the design merge into the binding, so you will lose some parts of the design if you cut the page out. By “breaking” the spine a bit, I was able to get the book to lay fairly flat.My water-based markers (Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, Tombows dual end – both brush and marker points, and Pentel) do not leak through this paper at all. My Sharpies, Copic, and other alcohol-based markers do bleed through easily. My gel pens do not bleed through or leave a shadow but do require a little more drying time than with lesser paper quality. My coloring pencils work very well with this paper according to the type of lead (hard/soft) that I am using. I won't worry about which medium I use with the book but I will cut down and carry a piece of chipboard with the book in case I decide to use my alcohol-based markers.

I am a little obsessed with this coloring book right now. I'm a Christian and have started to get into coloring as an adult. I also have two small children and it has been really fun to color as a family. I wanted something I could do that would be stress-relieving and help me meditate on scripture. I scoured Amazon to see what kinds of books were available. This one was first on my list from the beginning.When I received it, I eagerly began coloring. Flipping through the pages, I was impressed with the quality of the paper and printing. The pages are nice and thick and also one sided. This is important to me since I thoroughly enjoy coloring with brush pens, which often leave a lot of ink on the paper and therefore might bleed through thinner paper.I really like how the back of each page has references to the scripture, song, or person who said the quote. It's fun to read through the hymn or delve deeper into scripture while coloring. There are also a good mix of easy to color pages and more difficult ones. I like the easy ones a little better personally but the more complex ones are a fun challenge.Overall, I'm super happy with this purchase. My only suggestion for the authors and publisher is to come out with more books just like this! I'm going through this one quickly even though there are a lot of pages! I'll have to start hunting for my next book soon.

This coloring book is so beautiful that I was tempted to not even color in it! I started and completed my first page yesterday and it was a very relaxing and joyful experience. It took about an hour to complete one page, but I took my time selecting colors and shading. I like how the pages aren't too busy with lots of monotonous patterns like some coloring books for adults. Each page is a beautiful visual concept that goes along with whatever quote or scripture verse that is featured on the page. Each coloring page is one-sided, so it could easily be removed from the book and framed without "losing" another coloring page. Also, the pages are thick so even when bearing down with your pencils or markers, you won't damage the next page. I used Prismacolor colored pencils for my first piece and I was happy with the effect they gave. I am looking forward to the publisher printing follow-ups to this book!

Beautiful designs but quite a few extend into the binding and off the page. If this were not the case I would have given this adult coloring book 5 stars. There are Scripture verses, hymns, poems and other sayings. Each design is representative of these. They designs are well matched to the words. The paper is very thick. My Bic Permanent Markers showed through on the back of the page which can potentially cover over some of the Scripture passages and sayings/poems. Using colored gel pens this did not happen nor did it with colored pencils. I do recommend this book if you don't mind some of the designs running off the page and into the binding as well. Unfortunately the pages are not perforated.

I absolutely loved this book. It is stunning and beautiful. There is scripture verses, hymns, songs, poems, and more on the back of each page to coordinate what the image on the front is showing. The paper is smooth and thick and seems easy to color on. We are using these sheets in our "play and pray bags" for older children to use during church, so they can keep their hands busy, but still be attentive to the service. I love this book. I wish I could order a digital version that I could just print out to use over and over again! But alas, I love it so much that I'm sure I will end up ordering more! Thank you.

This book is beautiful and you will not be disappointed. Each design is on a single page with either a scripture or quote on the reverse of the page. The paper is good quality and thick, however I am finding that my marker pens (Spectrum Noir and Sharpies) are bleeding through so make sure that you put a piece of paper or card under the picture before you begin so that the page underneath does not spoil. I have also used coloured pencils and gel pens and they are all fine and don't go through. There is a mixture of large designs and intricate patterns so there is something for everyone.

i love this idea for a adult colouring book - includes a really good playlist that I listen to even when i'm not doing art therapy. a great way to spend some time with God.

Excellent book, particularly liked blogs and scripture readings, bought for a present and she was delighted.

Beautiful!

Great Coloring book my Wife loves it, the Scriptural references are a comforting assurance of God's love for us. The artwork is interesting and somewhat challenging, it gives hours of joy.