sea of roses mermaid sculpture by selina fenech

However it is a nice book and if you like mermaids you will most likely love it. Whereas the quality of the paper is the same quality as most self-published artists printed through companies such as Createspace and the price reflects this, I do wish the linework wasn’t quite so heavy in places. It is suitable for the beginner to the advanced colourist. The illustrations of Selina’s paintings are fun to colour, not overly detailed and will look lovely when finished. Mostly this doesn’t bother me, but I do feel they would have been even nicer with finer linework. The linework however does vary from a medium to a medium-thick black line.

Selina has recreated her stunning paintings in linework for you to colour. However many colourists will prefer to scan and copy the designs onto thicker paper or card (for their own use). The paper is quite toothy and takes pencil well but it will require some blending to completely colour-in so that no white shows through. The pages however are printed single-sided so if you place a spare sheet behind the one you are colouring you can use markers. The size is approximately A4 and the paper is bright white and thin you can see the print through on the reverse of the paper.

The book is paperback and self-published and the spine is glue-bound. Mermaids: Calm Oceans by Selina Fenech has 50 pages to colour – 2 each of 25 designs enabling you to use different colour schemes, try again if you mess up, or to give half the book to a friend.

Sea of roses mermaid sculpture by selina fenech