大象传媒

Traditionally associated with young children, colouring in is now being taken up en masse by women in France as a way of dealing with stress and anxiety. Sales of colouring in books marketed to adults as art therapy are soaring. So just how effective is it? Johanna Basford is an illustrator and author of the Secret Garden - An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book which has sold 50,000 copies since it was first published in France in February last year.

(Photo: A page from the Secret Garden book, "bare for you to either embellish in ebony ink or to flood with colour". Credit: Johanna Basford)