Thoughts from Dr. Joe: Enabling us to color our own adult worlds
I enjoy perusing the aisles of Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee House in La Cañada. I find it a very civilized place. There’s something to be said about people reading and writing and making books from words. When I am there, I typically search for the latest intriguing gem and then invariably I find two other books I had no idea I wanted. The magic of a bookstore is difficult to define. It’s almost unimaginable how one can meander among the shelves and find some enthralling interpretation of another’s existence and their individual account of sweat, grief and brilliance. It’s fascinating how the thousands of books in a bookstore are all trying to teach us the truth.
The Foothill Boulevard store has a penchant for local writers. It dedicates a shelf and displays their work. I’ve spent some fascinating evenings meeting writers and listening to them as they discuss their work. Perhaps in a few months, I hope to make that shelf and then on some winter evening I’d love to tell about the lives of my characters Ofa Hawkins, Seamus O’Grady and Elijah Bravo.
On Nov. 28, Flintridge Books is featuring the work of Sherise Seven and Scott Gordon. Their book, “Let it Go, Coloring Activities to Awaken Your Mind and Relieve Stress” is a coloring book for adults. Sara Cardine’s story in the Valley Sun last week about the couple caught my attention. I found a unique rationale in their perspective relative to art therapy.
I’ve always doodled and colored. When I was a child, my parents thought there was something wrong with me because I could rarely keep the color between the lines. That probably explains a lot. However, I did a lot better when I graduated from the confines of lines and found the open canvass. During my last year in the Corps I was stationed outside of Washington, D.C. On Sunday afternoons local artists displayed their work along the reflection pond between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I painted nautical scenes on rocks. They could be used as paperweights or bookends. I don’t think I ever sold any. I gave them away.
Can you think back to when you were a kid and you just got a brand-new box of Crayola crayons? I’m not talking about the eight-color box, but the 64-color box. Crayola has been around since 1903 so of course you can remember. I can still smell the crayons. Unique! They smelled a lot like your childhood. They would be sharp, and bright with weird names like periwinkle, aquamarine or magenta.
Life is a lot like a child’s coloring book. It’s up to us to fill in the colors. How we perceive ourselves is like a box of crayons, which we then use to color our world. Actor RuPaul expresses, “Life is about using the whole box of crayons.” We can learn a lot about life by coloring.
I am fascinated about artists Seven and Gordon’s adult coloring book. They offer a unique paradigm for creativity, imagination, inspiration and stress relief. Perhaps my favorite idea is the artists’ inclusion of affirmations and positive messages through provoking activities. I understand the Zen of Ms. Seven’s comment; “There’s something about the feeling of a pen or a pencil on paper. I just think it releases ill enjoy visiting them when they present their work at the Flintridge Bookstore.
I had many content and memorable moments with a brush, palette and easel, painting seascapes off along the coast of the Carolinas. Old wooden ships, white-capped waves and overcast skies are still appealing.
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JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
