I don’t remember a lot from my elementary school days. Like a lot of introverted kids, my school days weren’t the most enjoyable days of my life. Even back then, I had been accelerated twice and so by Grade 5 I was about 2 years younger than everyone in my class. And I had buck teeth.
Needless to say, I was a target for bullies and teasing all the way up until high school.
By now you might be wondering what the heck this has to do with creating coloring pages.
For me, it has everything to do with it. And it just might for you too, if you’re at all like me.
Because one day in the fifth grade my art teacher taught me a lesson that has stuck with me even to this day.
I had been complaining all through the class about how I couldn’t draw, and of course the teacher heard me. I was told to stay behind after class so we could deal with my issue of not being able to draw. When the classroom was empty except for the two of us, she slapped a pencil and a piece of paper down on the desk in front of me.
“Draw a straight line,” she said.
I drew.
“See that. I asked you to draw a line and you did it.”
“Anyone can draw a line,” I said. “But I can’t draw pictures.”
“Maybe not,” she continued, “but you didn’t say ‘I can’t draw pictures.’ You said ‘I can’t draw.’ And we just proved that you can draw. You may not draw as well as you’d like to, but you CAN draw.
I don’t even remember who my fifth grade teacher was, but every now and again, especially when I’m doing graphics or anything artistic, I hear her voice saying “You may not do it as well as you’d like to, but you can do this.”
And that brings us to coloring pages.
I love to color. But I found that I love creating images even more. So I set about creating images with great enthusiasm. Except that just like my fifth grade art class, I found myself comparing my designs to the other artists, and telling myself I couldn’t do it. And again I heard my old teacher’s voice. “You may not do it as well as you’d like to, but you CAN do it.”
This applies to a lot more than just creating coloring pages. It really applies to my whole life. Being so much younger than everyone else really did a number on my self-esteem. Confidence has always been a big deal for me and it’s something I have to work on every day. Whether it’s in an interaction on social media, or putting a product out for sale, or just talking to the clerk at the grocery store I have to remind myself every day that I CAN do this.
To be honest with you, I am really nervous about putting these out here. But I’m doing it anyways because I know I will get better. While I’ll probably never be as good as a lot of the coloring book creators out there, I am good enough to offer you some of the pages and hope that you get as much joy out of coloring them as I got out of making them for you.
And I would add to the lesson I learned as a youngster. “I’m not as good as I’d like to be right now, but each page I create is better than the one before.”
Wanna see? Click the button below to download 6 free images to print and color.
