Disclosure: I received this calendar in exchange for a review. This post contains an affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my link.
One thing I purchase every year is a new desk calendar and planner where I write my word of the year in it and also any resolutions I pan on making. This year I will have two calendars because of Workman Calendars A Year of Reverse Coloring Page-A-Day Calendar 2027.
I don’t know about in your home but in mine there are some things that arrive and they immediately make me think, I know exactly who this is going to be for. And then there are things that arrive and make me say, “Wait a minute… can I keep this one?” That is when I have to have a come to Jesus meeting with Santa.
That is exactly what happened when I received the A Year of Reverse Coloring Page-A-Day® Calendar 2027: The Calendar Has the Colors, You Draw the Lines! by Kendra Norton and Workman Calendars. And yes, I have already started making my case for why Santa should let me keep it as well as why its inside our Christmas Gift Guide/ Santa Wish List.
As soon as I saw the box I did have one question and that was what Is Reverse Coloring? Because I’ll admit something right away: I had never heard of reverse coloring before this calendar arrived. Have you heard of it?
We all knowq traditional coloring usually starts with a blank page and an outline. You choose your colors and fill everything in. Reverse coloring turns that idea around. The calendar has the colors, and you draw the lines.
Kendra Norton’s beautiful watercolor backgrounds give you a colorful starting point, and then you get to decide what happens next. I like how you can trace patterns, draw figures, add shading, scribble, make dots, create flowers, follow long lines, add shapes, or simply let your pen wander.
There really aren’t supposed to be any rules. And I think that is part of what makes this calendar so much fun for people of all ages. I could see the calender being used as a #Teaching tool in a Art Class and also in #Homeschool.
When you open the box, the calendar immediately catches your eye and it encourages creativity. The cover has beautiful watercolor-like colors and designs, and when you open it up, you’re greeted with even more beautiful colors. I noticed oranges, greens, browns, pinks, purples, and blues.
I especially love the oranges and greens, and there are some beautiful brown tones throughout the artwork. The colors have movement to them, almost like someone has painted a watercolor background and then handed you a pen and said, “Now you decide what happens next.”
The calendar sits upright on your desk with a stand in the back, so it doesn’t take up much room. There are 313 pages, with weekends combined onto one page. And because it is a Page-A-Day calendar, you have something new to discover throughout the year.
I like how the Author took the time to ask us on the first page asks: What do we do now. Especially if your “Not sure where to start?” Then it gives you ideas to see where the pages take you and what you will need to do the pages with.
You can try:
- Shading leaves
- Tracing faces
- Stars and spirals
- Doodles
- Long lines
- Dots
- Squiggles
- Square edges
- Pictures
- Bumps
- Rolls
- Squares
- Stacking patterns
- Double lines
I immediately started thinking about how many of these could become homeschooling #teachingmoments. Even though Charlie is grown and our homeschooling days are behind us, I can still see so many possibilities here for homeschooling families or someone teaching art or just a art lover or someone wanting to learn to draw.
What looks like simply sitting down and drawing can actually lead to conversations about patterns, shapes, lines, color, observation, symmetry, art, and creativity. You could have a child look for patterns.
You could talk about different types of lines. You could have them create a picture from an abstract watercolor background and then write a story about what they created. You could even use the pages as inspiration for a lesson about colors and how different colors work together.
And perhaps the biggest lesson is that there doesn’t always have to be one right answer. Everyone can look at the same page and create something completely different. I like how the calendar gives you ideas for different pen sizes, including: 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 3 mm, 5 mm, and 8 mm.
Which makes this the perfect gift for me because I love pens and can never have to many of them. What about you? Plus this calendar and pens will make wonderful gifts for teachers and grandparents who love art.
The Author even shows examples of flowers created with different pen tips so you can see how changing the size of your pen changes the finished look. Kendra uses a felt-tip, non-bleeding permanent ink pen, and the calendar recommends experimenting with different pens to see what you like best.
But there are no rules. You can use whatever pen you like. I really appreciate that because this isn’t supposed to be about following someone else’s instructions perfectly. It’s about experimenting and seeing what you can create.
Of course, once I started flipping through the calendar, I had to find some important dates. And this is where this calendar became even more personal for me. I wanted to see what artwork was waiting on the birthdays of some of my favorite people.
Suzanne — May 8- which is Suzanne’s birthday and her page is filled with flowers. Isn’t that perfect? The flowers are done in beautiful colors, and as soon as I saw it, I thought about how much she would have loved creating something with it. I can just imagine her sitting down with a pen and deciding what those flowers needed. That page made me smile.
Then I turned to July 26, David’s birthday and his page is completely different. It has psychedelic-looking designs in purples and blues. There are shapes that almost look like faces or figures, although they aren’t actually faces.
It made me stop and look at it for a while because my brain kept trying to turn the shapes into something recognizable. It even reminded me a little bit of Halloween, although it isn’t a Halloween page. I’m curious what David would see in it and what he would create.
Then I had to check November 4. That’s my birthday, in case anyone wants to know. And yes, I do accept gifts. My page has parallel lines, pretty pinks and blues, squiggly lines, and little dots. I really like it. And now that I have seen it, I want to sit down with my own pen and start creating a picture but I just don’t know what to make. Would you want to help me?
Of course, I couldn’t stop there. I had to see December 16, Charlie’s birthday. His page has straight up-and-down lines with greens and purplish-pink colors. The green is a little unusual for Charlie, but I really like the combination.
Now I can’t wait to see what he would create from it. That’s one of the things I love about this concept. The same colors could inspire completely different ideas in different people. They may be colors they wouldn’t usually pick but they fit them. It’s almost like she knew Charlie.
Once I was flipping through the calendar, I started noticing pages that reminded me of different holidays and seasons. December 17 actually looks like Halloween colors to me. And December 25 makes me think of poinsettias, holly berries, and Christmas.
That made me think this could be fun to use as part of a seasonal activity, too. You could look at the day’s colors and see what they remind you of. Maybe one page looks like fall. Another might remind you of Christmas. Another might make you think of flowers, animals, a landscape, or something completely unexpected.
I think one of the things I like most about this calendar is that it doesn’t require a huge time commitment. You can sit down for a few minutes with a pen and follow the colors and patterns. Maybe you make a flower or you create a pattern.
Maybe you add dots or maybe you draw a funny character. Maybe you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. That’s okay, too. There are no rules. And sometimes that’s exactly what makes a creative activity enjoyable.
You don’t have to worry about whether you’re an artist and you don’t have to make your page look like someone else. You just start drawing. There is no, right or wrong when designing your masterpiece as long as it makes you happy.
I’m also adding A Year of Reverse Coloring Page-A-Day Calendar 2027 to our GreatfulMoments Christmas Gift Guide/ Wish List as we help Santa pack his sleigh so he can deliver the gifts to all the good little boys and girls..
I can see this being a fun gift for:
- Teens
- Adults
- Homeschool families
- Artists
- Doodlers
- People who enjoy coloring
- Teachers
- Grandparents
- Anyone who enjoys creative activities
- Someone who wants a fun desk calendar
And because it is a calendar, it isn’t something that gets opened on Christmas morning and forgotten. You have something to do with it throughout the entire year. Now I’m going to be selfish for just a minute. Again, I’m going to ask Santa, if I can I keep this one? Because I really like it.
Maybe you can order another one for my mother-in-law or my sister. I think I deserve this one for myself! It would sit perfectly on my desk, and because it doesn’t take up much room, I wouldn’t have to rearrange everything just to have it sitting there.
And after going through the calendar and finding pages for Suzanne, David, Charlie, and myself, it has become more personal than I expected. I bet if you looked through the calendar you would find pages that mean something to you as well.
About the Calendar: A Year of Reverse Coloring Page-A-Day® Calendar 2027: The Calendar Has the Colors, You Draw the Lines! By Kendra Norton and Workman Calendars
The calendar is based on Kendra Norton’s bestselling Reverse Coloring Book series. It includes 313 pages, with weekends combined onto one page. It is printed using soy-based inks and is 100% recyclable. The backer can be recycled at the end of the year.
The calendar also encourages you to visit Page-A-Day for more reverse coloring fun, calendar news, contests, and information about upcoming calendars.
Workman Calendars‘ philosophy is: “Don’t just count the days, make the days count.” I added that thought to my own experience with this calendar because I think it fits. Instead of simply turning a page and counting another day, you’re taking a few minutes to create something.
About: Kendra Norton is the creator of the original Reverse Coloring Book series. She is an artist and creator, and The Reverse Coloring Book was her first published book. The calendar also encourages readers to share what they create and connect with Kendra through social media using #TheReverseColoringBook.
I received this calendar without knowing anything about reverse coloring, and now I’m sitting here thinking about which pen I want to use first. I love that the calendar gives you the colors instead of asking you to begin with a blank page. It takes away some of the pressure of figuring out what to color and replaces it with a much more interesting question:
“What can you create?” For me, it also became a little journey through the calendar as I looked for birthdays and discovered what each person’s page looked like. Suzanne’s flowers. David’s colorful, almost psychedelic designs. My pinks, blues, lines, and dots and Charlie’s greens and purples. And now I want to see what I can create from my own page.
I think this would make a fun Christmas gift, a creative homeschooling activity, a desk calendar, or simply something to keep nearby when you want a few quiet minutes to draw. As for me? I’m voting for keeping this one. Santa, you know where to find the second one.
About the Calendar:
Forget drawing inside the lines—this calendar lets you unleash your true creativity! Based on Kendra Norton’s bestselling Reverse Coloring Book series.
- NEW! From the creator of the beloved original Reverse Coloring Book that started it all, free your imagination with daily doodles—the pages have the colors, you draw the lines!
- MINDFULNESS AND CREATIVITY: Slow down, let go, and let your pen find its way. Trace, draw, shade, fill in or dot your way to a peaceful state of mind.
- THE ORIGINAL WORKMAN PAGE-A-DAY CALENDARS ARE THE BEST DAILY CALENDARS ON THE MARKET: Page-A-Day® Calendars are built on expert authorship, engaging subject matter, and uncompromising design and production standards.100% recyclable and printed on responsibly sourced paper, with reverse pages printed for use as notepape
Meet: Kendra Norton
Kendra Norton is a lesbian mom of four, an artist, a creator, a nurturer. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is currently an MBA candidate, a full- time employee, and a Human Services alumnus of Western Washington University. The Reverse Coloring Book is her first published book, but not her last! Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @kendranortonart
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
