This is a dream you can't achieve,

A book that can achieve a dream here,
Let it take you around the world,
Take you to the place you've never been.

 -Dream Traveler Coloring book

I got my daughter a coloring book called “Around the World Dream Traveler”. She initially didn't like it much because the spaces were too narrow and coloring pencils didn't give the rich darker colors she wanted. I colored the cover page to make her interested. The book went unnoticed for months until she saw the Taj Mahal and decided she would give it some color.

That was the start of our journey around the world as dream travelers.

Meet Mika. She is six years old and homeschooled.

She colors using crayons, markers, coloring pencils and watercolor pencils. She slowly moved from crayons and now that her markers have almost all run out of color, she sticks to these watercolor pencils that her Lolo (grandfather) gave her. I think they are now her favorite.

She saw this page on Marie Antonette and since we had run out of Mandalas to color on her coloring books, she keeps her Dream Traveler book at arms length on our book shelf. We did not do much research on Marie Antonette , unlike how we did when she researched the story of Taj Mahal in her books. I told her that the person in the portrait was the Queen of France. I think she liked the page because of the perfume bottle and the pretty ribbons and roses.

Like her other work, I left her to do her thing.

After breakfast I came back to her writing her name at the bottom of the page. She was excited to finish it and mark it with her signature. I laughed and told her you sign it when you're finished.

I was just fascinated how she came up with reddish brown hair for Marie Antonette. All she knew was that Marie Antonette was a queen.

We had to stop for a bit when water spilled on the page and we let it dry under the sun. That's the challenge with watercolor, the water part is a bit difficult to manage with kids (that have 4 year old brothers).

The next day, we continued with her artwork and she had finished it but her signature couldn't be visible anymore. I told her, that's ok. I know you made it. I expected she would use more pastels in this portrait of Marie Antonette because of the light context of the portrait but she used rich red and the darkest green she had for the roses. I asked why the background is black, she said she just like it that way.

I was wondering why there was a red line below Marie Antonette's necklace and she told me she tried to write Marie Antonette's name but it smudged or the colors melted together. Anyway, I loved how the portrait came together even with the red smudge.

Disclaimer: No I did not tell her Marie Antonette was beheaded in real life, that's too sad a story for a 6 year old, right? She might read it in her books eventually.

Kids are naturally curious human beings.

I am thinking of enrolling her in a painting class but only if she likes it and probably after we are finished with her school year. Honestly, I am amazed she sat down long enough to color this whole thing! It's has smudges here and there but I love it haha, that's the stage mommy in me.

I found this book on an online shopping page, I am not affiliated with this shop. It's on sale for Php95! I bought it second hand for much more. Here's the Dream Traveler book we are so engrossed about -> Dream Traveler Adult Coloring Book.

There's Paris, NYC, Brazil, Japan...and many more.

Where in the world will this book take us next?

It's a bit dilapidated now that water spilled all over it but some pages were saved. Where in the world would you go next if you were coloring this book with Mika?

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Check out the other posts in this art series:

• Mika's Mandala Artwork
• A Peek into the Creative Process
• Mandala Artwork - Turtle
• Around the World - India

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Also posted on luvabi.com.

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