How We Designed Flamenco + Coloring Pages

Something about the collection of animal notebook designs seemed a little unfinished, and we didn't love the look or feel of the digitally printed fabric. So we packed up the samples in one of our many "maybe someday..." themed storage bins, and moved on to the next concept. But we agreed that there was some kind of special spark about those quirky designs, and when we started designing our first pajama collection it hit us: finally we had a reason to revisit some of those old paintings! 

While the elephant notebook design offered us a strong starting point, there was still a lot of editing and reworking that had to happen before Flamenco became the pajama print it is today. The original painting felt a little masculine and stiff, and needed to be finessed and simplified before it would be ready for screen-printing onto sleepwear. Amy decided the elephant needed a friend, and our designer Christiane created some additional paintings for the flamingo and surrounding vines.

The motifs were further reworked digitally, and we moved on to the recoloring process. We tried countless color options before landing on our Pale Blue and Fuchsia colorways. Then we passed along printouts and Pantone color swatches to our vendors in Jaipur, India. The talented artisans we work with translated the artwork into beautiful hand-screen printed fabric swatches, and after a few more rounds of color tweaks (a relatively quick process, since Amy and Christiane were in India to work with our factory directly), our Flameco design was finalized.

This is one of our new favorite prints, and we loved picking out the name, "Flamenco." Not only does it bring to mind a joyful dance taking place between the flamingo and the elephant, it is also the Spanish word for flamingo.

We're big proponents of finding ways to add mindfulness practices into your daily routine (you can learn more about the benefits of gratitude and mindfulness journaling on our blog). While we love writing and meditation as outlets, as creatives we also love finding artistically stimulating ways to let go and embrace the present. That's why we thought it would be fun to offer our most popular prints as free printable coloring pages!

The adult coloring trend has been on the rise over the past couple years, for good reason - coloring gives people the space to relax and relieve anxiety. Art therapists and psychology researchers have been talking about the mental benefits of coloring for decades, but more recently we've started to see an increase in coloring books and materials made for people of all ages. Designs are more intricate and refined, and materials like markers and colored pencils allow more sophisticated technique and colors than the crayons aimed at kids. 

Let's get coloring! Below you'll find three printable options for our Flamenco print:

Download the files here: 8.5" x 11" Horizontal Sheet, 8.5" x 11" Vertical Sheet, & 11" x 17" Sheet

We’d love to see how you color our Flamenco design! Be sure to share yours on Instagram and tag us @printfresh.