Clouds in a Teacup: A Mindful Journey and Coloring Book Paperback – Coloring Book, December 8, 2015

Just getting back from a weekend holiday celebration with my family where I spent lots of time coloring, collecting shells and making things mainly with my little cousin. I brought my favorite thin colored pens (but colored pencils, crayons, markers would be all good for this one). Not only is there plenty of space for coloring inside these beautiful, organic and very intricate hand done line drawings, there's also a lot of space for making your own drawings or messages which my little cousin also loved. FINALLY there is a coloring book that represents multicultural communities, nature, treasures AND promotes positive & intentional human connections through its imagery and word choice!!!!! The collaboration of the authors is seamless and quite stunning as well which I would attribute to a real practice of the main themes the book features, "We are all connected We Inter-Are" . ...'ll go on :) I would say another cool thing about this book is each time you open it you discover something new, and it just came out so I just started getting to know it and I've already noticed lots of sweet details, thoughtful lines..etc. It really is a chance to meditate and reflect and I would also say, especially for early readers, a great chance to foster notions of peace, coexisting, connecting with our breath through reading the sentences in the book.So I have to say, I ordered 3 copies (one for myself--which I have been sharing time w family), one for my sister and her daughter (my niece--age 7) and one for my mother (because she's a teacher and I believe this book is also a great resource for developing fun, engaging ways to talk about important topics like wellness, community, and peace while actually practicing the connections in a meditational way. So as you can see I already feel like I need to order at least 3 more!In summary, This book is a beautiful innovative refreshing and super engaging spin on what might come to mind when you think of a coloring book. It really is a book that people of all ages can enjoy and experience together!! Highly recommended for gift to self, family, friends, students, teachers, artists, makers, lovers of nature, and really anybody!!! - E.D.

I love this book so much. There are many coloring books out there and many good ones, but this one is both interesting and purposeful. I can turn to most any page and find a useful lesson in mindfulness to consider and the images are rooted in community, culture, and connection to nature. I think that is, as another reviewer put it, "refreshing." I think it's useful to add that this is not so much a "just for fun" coloring book. The line drawings are smaller and tighter in many places, but I find I can use these smaller areas to do the detailed (and meditative) work of digging in a bit, or I can color over them in larger sections (say on clothes or faces, or similar).I also love the fact that many of the drawings are not symmetrical. There is absolutely something fun and meditative about all the coloring books out there that offer mirror images, mandalas (this has some too), etc. but I don't always feel like doing something so matchy-matchy. This has a little more adventure, and to me, a lot more narrative in the drawings themselves.

I agree with other reviewers that the drawings are somewhat busy, but not that problematic. When I reach for a colored pencil, I close my eyes and let fate choose the color. Then let my eye lead me to the place to fill in. The result is a mosaic of colors.Lighten up you critics. You are not Leonardo. Relax, have fun, be mindful of all the colors.

I knew not to expect one of the 'art therapy' adult coloring books when I ordered this, and what I received exceeded my expectations. Brett Cook is an amazing artist whose work provocatively invokes us to pay attention to the diversity in our world, to honor those often unseen and certainly under-represented in our communities. Pairing his open-ended line drawings with the teachings and phrases of our beloved Thich Nhat Hanh offers me a chance to deeply internalize feelings of peace and invites that often hidden creative side of myself to step forth a little bit. I have been using colored pencils to work the drawings and I find myself getting lost in the intricacies of the work. I am so glad to have this gem waiting for me at the end of a long day.

This is a beautiful book. I love to use it as a meditation aid while also listening to binaural beats. I recommend using Sharpie's line of colorful highlighters to navigate the small edges and pieces of the coloring pages. Expect each small piece to take around 60 minutes or more of solid meditation to complete, or do small bits and pieces and come back multiple times. This is definitely not a coloring book you can do without concentrating.

I'm sorry but as an illustrator myself; the art was not to my liking. The line work is shaky and sloppy and so busy that I can't figure out how anyone is supposed to enjoy coloring it. Bret Cook didn't leave any room for coloring or shading because he filled virtually every available space with jagged scribbling. It looks like he pounded it out in a weekend, in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle on a windy road. I relay don't get it. I feel anxious just looking at it. I know that's harsh but this is a personal response to the work as a commercial product.I did look up the artist online and I actually like some of his paintings, just not this.I love Thich Nhat Hanh and find what he has to say eloquent and beautiful. I just don't like the illustrations in this book, especially since the point is for me to enjoy interacting with it.

A fun book that encourages thinking outside the box and definitely outside the conventional lines of coloring

Beautiful!