Stephanie Fsadni peeps into artist Lisa Falzon’s fantastical world of imagination and is enthralled by one of her latest projects: colouring books for adults. Besides rekindling the desire to draw, they are aimed at inspiring grown-ups to meditate and connect with their inner selves.

How long has it been since you grabbed a colouring pencil or crayon and drew something to while away the time? It probably goes back to your childhood days… unless you have small children.

But you might be glad to know there is a new trend on the market: colouring books for adults.

Two such books were recently published by Malta-born, Berlin-based artist Lisa Falzon. She is the brain (and the creative hand) behind Meluseena, a unique brand of artworks featuring rich and traditional illustrations created digitally. Her art is romantic in nature yet quite surreal and may evoke a sense of nostalgia...

“I use vibrant colours, dense details and textures – all set in what I call the glowing, twilit world of emotions. My themes are women-centred, focus on connection with nature, tenderness and magic,” Falzon says.

She explains the name Meluseena was her old “handle” or nickname in the early days of the internet and that it’s actually the name of a heroine from a French fairy tale.

“I often think of Meluseena as a person now, with needs. She’s definitely a presence in my life!”

An illustration from Reach for the Stars.

Falzon is in fact a full-time artist, writer and visual storyteller, and in the past 10 years, has developed Meluseena’s offerings into an online shop, that includes giclée prints, clocks, items of clothing and other fancy items.

Among other projects, her Australia-based publishers last year approached her with the idea of a colouring book for adults.

“I was absolutely thrilled. I loved the interactivity of it and the fact that it would inspire people who hadn’t picked a crayon up in maybe 20 years or more to do just that. I’m very happy with the result, I don’t think I was ever prouder of a project.”

She was given free rein to draw 16 highly-detailed linework images with a theme based around her painting Reach for the Stars, which features a young woman with her hands held up against a night sky full of stars.

Connecting with yourself should be a priority. I believe there’s actually nothing more important in the world. You’ll only be half a person if you don’t

“I sketched ideas for several days, filling my studio with post-it notes (my favourite things to sketch on). I came up with the romanticised ‘Ali Baba orient’ look to tie all the ideas together.

“I looked for quotes I felt were deeper or more challenging than the usual inspirational poster because I felt anyone picking up a colouring book was already a little subversive, at least on the inside.”

She considers this project to carry a “noble aim” – that of allowing grown-ups to reconnect with their creativity.

“When we grow up we gain this awful preoccupation with what we are and who should do what. We feel that there should be a reason for us to draw – that only ‘an artist’ should draw. Kids don’t wonder whether they’re artists or not.

“What’s so great about colouring is that it allows someone who’s too daunted by the idea of sketching pictures of their own to get their foot in creatively. The pleasure of picking colours and filling in can help rekindle that old spirit of simply enjoying the act for its own sake.”

The Reach for the Stars colouring book was inspired by Lisa Falzon’s painting of the same name (right).

Besides, Falzon believes it’s very important to connect with oneself every so often and find the time to stop and meditate about one’s life. Colouring can help in no small way.

“I think connecting with yourself should be a priority. I believe there’s actually nothing more important in the world. You’ll only be half a person if you don’t... what’s the point of that, who will benefit?

“Perhaps we don’t know what we’re here for, what this big life mystery is... but I have a feeling it’s less to do with the anxiety, stress and frazzled lifestyles of our urban lives than it has to do with the simple act of creating just for the sweet heck of it.

“I’d like people to be inspired to find some quiet ‘me-time’ in days bursting at the seams with busyness and create a daily practice of connecting with their creativity.”

The Reach for the Stars colouring book and a second one titled Great Love Stories, which features famous couples in history and literature and which was published this year, are aimed specifically at this. Both carry the tag line: ‘Inspiring change through meditative colouring’.

“There’s a meditative quality to colouring – with all the calming and clear-thinking benefits of it. The pictures themselves have themes of positivity, so they can be contemplated on too – but the act of colouring alone will do the trick!”

Falzon especially aspires to empower women through her art and encourage them to “nurture their spirit” rather than spend too much time worrying about their looks.

“Unfortunately women are given short shrift in our culture – and have been given so for a long, long time. We still live in an age that judges women by their beauty and their youth.

“Society loves to bombard women with reasons why they are inadequate. Greying hair, too much hair in the wrong place, ‘problem’ skin... It’s not even about embellishment or self-expression – we are talking about hours spent doing beauty treatments just to feel ‘normal’, enough smoke and mirrors to befuddle as to what really matters… stealing time where we could be nurturing our spirit.”

She is, however, positive that things are changing and now there are “proactive Katnisses to counter our passive Bellas”, referring to the Hunger Games heroine versus the Twilight saga beauty. And she aims to propel this idea of women.

“I want to be among those in the creative community holding up virtues other than passivity and heteronormative beauty. I paint women and paint them as creatives, as sages, as magicians, as powerful, brave warriors facing adversity, as hopeful and complex emotional beings capable of anything a human can do. This is Meluseena’s message – and she demands I tell it.”

To see more of Lisa Falzon’s works, visit www.lisa-falzon.com.

Illustrations from Great Love Stories.