The Times’s Travel section is tasked with bringing you the world. But with the world on pause, we’re inviting you to explore far-flung destinations through another, more interactive medium: coloring pages, inspired by some of our favorite travel photos.
Coloring books — for children and adults alike — have emerged with a new zeitgeist as an unbreakable, noiseless and screen-free indoor activity; AdAge named them one of the key creative trends to emerge from the pandemic.
Color the World
Got a printer? Here are five pages inspired by a few of our favorite travel photos.
They are also a potentially helpful antidote to the blahs.
“Coloring books have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety while promoting relaxation as they help users remain present and focused, said Martha Dorn, the executive director of The Art Therapy Project, a nonprofit based in New York City. “Repetitive strokes provide temporary relief from life stressors, and the focus required to color can keep negative emotions away.”
Many hotels and other travel companies have jumped into the coloring-book game through downloadable, print-at-home pages: one effort to keep would-be guests engaged during a period of stay-at-home orders and border closures.
One&Only’s coloring books are inspired by its resorts in Australia’s Wolgan Valley (images include wombats, kangaroos) and in Los Cabos, Mexico (sea turtles, sharks). Xanterra Travel Collection, which operates Yellowstone National Park and several other parks in the United States, is transporting humpback whales and bighorn sheep to family rooms across the country.
The Leading Hotels of the World, a collection of independent luxury hotels and resorts, teamed with the Delaware-based artist Dallas Shaw to depict sketches of bucket-list stays like the Grand Hotel Fasano in northern Italy. And Elizabeth Sutton, an artist based in New York City, turned St. Bart’s, Aspen and other jet-setter destinations into a coloring book for Embark Beyond, a luxury travel agency.
“Painting is always a way for me to escape, so I figured, why not offer the same to the world?” said Ms Sutton. “It’s an escape through colorful and happy artworks to inspirational destinations around the globe.”
Now it’s your turn to escape, by putting your creative spin on some of our best travel photography from Zadar, Croatia, to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Download, print and share the results on Instagram, by tagging @nytimestravel to have your work featured.
