Susan Tully

Sweet Victorian Susan Tully

Married to the love of my life, with a loving and wonderful family. A work history that includes many different careers, as my husband's job moved us from town to town. My degree from Endicott College has served me well. I have lived in several states and have retired to Idaho. That is me in one paragraph? Those are the facts. But who am I? It's hard to believe that I am a Colorist. Sad to say but when I was in elementary school I was the worst in my class at coloring. I found staying in the lines impossible. Worse than that, I always broke my crayons, which in turn broke my heart. Six decades after being a coloring failure the coloring craze hit. I was truly concerned that I still couldn't color, but thought "why not?" Who was going to see it anyway? Sounds like fun so why not try. When I bought my first Adult Coloring book I truly felt silly. With a small box of pencils and a package of markers and minimal investment there began my obsession. Today I actually have a little coloring group called ' Coloring Obsession with Lilly Padd ' that I started when I found out how many of my friends on Facebook colored, too. We all started out as secret colorists. Although I was teased by friends and family, I discovered a great satisfaction in finishing a page and saying to myself, ' Wow, that is great! ' It happened again when I shared it with my Facebook family. Instant gratification! As time went by I joined coloring groups and would post a picture and receive over 100 'likes' and comments from total strangers saying they love my art work. I had conquered my dismal coloring past! As my love of coloring grew I was getting discouraged because I soon discovered there weren't enough Coloring Books I wanted to color. For me coloring tiny objects and patterns exhausted me. To find pictures that would not strain my eyesight, give me a headache, or take 5 days to finish was a challenge. As a result, I discovered grayscale. Grayscale helps you shade and frankly makes your finished works more like a photo than a coloring page. I use many mediums. colored pencils, water color pencils, markers, liquid chalk even acrylic paints. Experimenting is what makes it so much fun. Sweet Victorian is a grayscale coloring book of Victorian illustrations that I love to color. My passion became my work and today I am a published photographer and coloring book author at the tender age of 72. As I move forward in my new career I keep thinking of the advice," Do something you love!" Lucky me, I am!