Illuminated Manuscript

Tada! I finally got around to coloring one of my own coloring book pages, ha! I made this page just about 2 years ago when I was going through an extremely stressful time in my life and I was in a constant anxiety spiral. Through happenstance, two of my friends Carolyn Murray Spencer and Chrissy Giandonato both suggested that I read Untamed by Glennan Doyle, so naturally I did!

One of the parts of the book that resonated the most with me was when she talked about her own anxiety and creating a list of "reset buttons" to help her return to herself.

"I keep a handwritten poster in my office titled “Easy Buttons and Reset Buttons.” On the left are all the things I do to abandon myself. On the right are my reset buttons, the things I can do to make staying with myself a little more possible.” - Glennan Doyle

I didn't make the easy buttons, but I decided to make my own list of Reset Buttons. I was teaching a unit on typography at the time and somehow then made a mental leap to illuminated manuscripts for my inspiration. Side note: this drawing also then became the basis for an illuminated manuscript project that I taught in my Art History class last year during the Medieval Art unit! I believe one of them actually won a Scholastics Art Award this year! My kids are legit THE BEST!

I will probably color in a few more versions of this as I would like to explore a few other color palettes - but that's the beauty of coloring book pages! I can color in as many as I want!

If you would like to buy your own .pdf version of the page, you can download it from Etsy for $5 here.