Review: Peace for Ukraine by Abundant Colors
A few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Anne Lundquist was suddenly hit by a bolt of inspiration to create a coloring book in partnership with female Ukrainian artists to showcase the beauty and uniqueness of Ukraine and help raise money to aid Ukrainian relief efforts. Thus Abundant Colors was born as a stand for peace and a celebration of all cultures.
Anne has partnered with Ukrainian artists Anastasia Honcharenko, Anna Horsharik, Naya Kirichenko, Ilona Kovalska, Ana Niki, and Olena Shkavron to create this unique book.
Each of the 29 illustrations is accompanied by a cultural narrative – sometimes true, and sometimes more along the line of folklore or fairy tales. For example, one page gives a description about the streets in Odesa. The next page is a picture of streets and buildings in Odesa to color.
Brenda Mesta from the Facebook Adult Coloring Group, used alcohol markers on both of these images above, “I like to color one over the other even when they are wet to be able to blend the colors a bit.” Brenda said, “I must say that this is a beautiful book, it is as if you were going on a tour, its images are very varied and complete. It has simple images and other more complicated ones to color according to the challenge that you want to set yourself. You don’t need to have experience in coloring, just let your imagination fly. Personally I’ve only been coloring for a couple of months and I think I’ve done well.”
Linda Woltil Allison colored the picture on the left with prismacolor premier, CastleArts Soft Touch, Koh-I-Noor and Phoenix color pencils; LePlumme dual tip brush/fineliners. Linda said, “The picture I’ve colored here is a beautiful maiden, Mavka, who lives in a forest according to Ukranian fokelore.” The narrative that goes along with this page has a QR code that takes you to a Youtube page with a trailer to an animated movie about Mavka released in December 2022. “I think this is the most unique coloring book I’ve ever seen. I never even imagined a coloring book that would play music for you, show a movie trailer, and tell you true tales, folklore, and fairy tales in addition to 29 amazing pages to color!” Randi Jameson also enjoyed coloring the folklore pages and used Steadler pencils and markers base for her page on the right.
Sarah Adams colored these pages using Prisma colors and alcohol markers. “I absolutely loved this book these beautiful images. I’ve been coloring for as long as I can remember, but it’s increased a lot as I’ve gotten older. It’s so calming and a great way to just kick back and relax.”
* Colorists who participated in this review were given free pages in exchange for their honest opinion and may have received a nominal token for their completed colored pages.
Where to buy?
You can buy this book as well as Anne’s other books on the Abundant Colors website or Amazon.
Please note: this site does not currently have affiliate links and AdultColoring.net does not make any money from this review.
Download Sample Page!
Anne has been generous enough to share this page to download to our members and visitors free of charge!!
About the Author: Anne Lundquist
