Sure, adult coloring books have been all the rage for a while, but I promise you, you’ve never encountered one that will tickle your fancy the way Barry Donner’s “Martha’s Vineyard Coloring Book” will.
From the get-go, Donner lets us know this work is something a little different. On the front cover he says: “Some Age Required,” although what age you have to be to use it, Donner laughingly reflects, he hasn’t figured out yet. And as the author, he identifies himself as “B. Donner, Dreamer,” which appears in the bottom of a hot air balloon basket, stuffed with a man wearing the sign “Oops” across his chest and a none-too-happy donkey squeezed in behind him. Below is our beloved Island, but with inexplicable ducks gliding alongside.
On the inside cover, Donner illustrates himself on a chair talking to two birds perched on the seat next to him. Above hangs a favorite quote of his by Henry David Thoreau, “The world is but a canvas to the imagination,” and certainly that’s what you’ll get throughout this delightful book. “I called it a coloring book because I had to call it something,” Donner told me. “They’re really just sketches. It’s as much a book of philosophy as a coloring book.”
Donner never set out to create a book. “It’s sort of serendipitous,” he explains. “I was sitting in the Black Dog one day drawing, and a friend came in, and he’s a commercial artist, and said, ‘Let me put a couple of your sketches together and I think you’ll like it.’ It all kind of came from that. I had never planned to do it, but when I saw it in a book, I felt, ‘This is really my format. I like it in a book, it seems to work.’”
Donner fills every page of his whimsical, oversize coloring book with fantastical scenes referencing Island spots such as the Black Dog, or Alley’s General Store, with scenes of Edgartown, Vineyard Haven, West Tisbury, Oak Bluffs, and the like. He populates each drawing with cartoon people and with bizarre beings such as the Society Island talking totem pole.
But wherever you look, there are also little animals, whether they be bunnies, kitties, dogs — with or without berets or other accoutrements — supersize heath hens, wind-up mice, weird crabs, waddling ducks, marching penguins, determined turtles, a disgruntled tiger, or a giant octopus looming on the horizon overlooking a ferry in the harbor. Often his creatures are doing odd things, like the swan playing the horn, huge fish standing upright in conversation with a Buddha-like seated human, crowned frogs enjoying a glass of wine on the beach, or a frustrated mermaid leaning on an overturned, beached rowboat.
The more you look, the more you notice little amusing elements in every delightful spread, humorous looks on creatures’ or people’s faces, words hidden away — such as the movie poster for the Capawock Theater advertising “The Thing That Ate Martha’s Vineyard.” All of Donner’s titles bring a smile to your face. A ginormous whale with a human face slides down Edgartown’s Main Street in his drawing “For the Whales — The Whaling Church.” Or there’s “The Last Boat — This Is the Wrong Window” with a long line of annoyed passengers lined up at the window in the Steamship Authority with the ferry unloading at the dock and then merrily pulling away into the distance.
Another different aspect of the coloring book is how Donner sometimes has colored in portions of his drawings, inviting us to add to his mini-masterpieces. At other times, he leaves everything totally up to us to fill in between his constantly flowing lines.
Donner says the work is “very relaxing.” “That’s why I draw. It’s kind of a meditation for me. It’s just calming and soothing,” he says. “I use color pencils a lot. I loved to draw, and I was trying to share that with anybody who wanted to listen. I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid. I just loved it. To me it’s an unknown language that I wish more people spoke. I wish I was Rembrandt or Leonardo, but I discovered I’m happy being Barry. To me that’s a great lesson in life. Accepting yourself for what you draw.”
When I asked about his inspiration, Donner tells me it’s like the image in his book of the man waiting by the mailbox and the bird above about to drop a letter on him: “To me that’s the way the world works. You’re expecting one thing and the world delivers something you’re not expecting, and that’s what drawings do for me. They deliver the unexpected treasure. It’s really thrilling.”
Donner also explains, “The world is just a giant canvas for our creative minds. I believe everybody has the ability to do it. I hate to finish a drawing, because I can always add more to it. Once you start drawing, things come to you. A good drawing is like getting a gift.”
Donner, who started coming to the Island when he was in high school, says, “I’ve lived in West Tisbury for 43 years. Once I came to the Vineyard, I knew I was in the right place, and I never left. It’s a wonderful Island. It’s an endless source of treasure for me. I love the Vineyard.”
Clearly, he’s found a way to share it with us.
“I hope people enjoy the book, and that they pick up a pencil and do some drawings of their own. Some of my drawings are unfinished, and I hope people finish them.”
Contact Barry Donner at 508-693-1519 to acquire a copy of “The Martha’s Vineyard Coloring Book.”
