Why did you make a coloring book? Painting can be a slow process. I have hundreds, maybe thousands, of ideas in the Notes app on my phone and scribbled in notebooks. So it can be frustrating to create 1 or 2 paintings a month, when the backlog just keeps increasing. Sharing is part of my artistic practice - I want people to interact with the work. With fine art, that means either a show in a gallery or someone buying a painting - in either case, the opportunity for audience interaction is specific and narrow. I love artists like Keith Haring who wanted to share his work with as many people as possible and not just in a predictable fine art setting but out in the everyday world. Coloring books are highly accessible and allow the audience to contribute their own artistic vision to the foundation that I have laid - so it becomes a collaborative process and not a one-way transaction. I’m excited to see what people create with the black and white outlines that I’ve laid out for them.
Who is the book intended for? Readers, writers, teachers, students, artists, poets, and anyone interested in expanding their vocabulary.
Why is the title Word Smatter? It’s a play on words, a dad joke. To me it speaks to the phrase ‘words matter’ while also being a little snarky and alluding to the randomness of my word choices in the book.
What do you mean by ‘word nerd’? I am a word nerd and this is a book for fellow word nerds. People who love good writing - songwriting, playwriting, book writing, screenwriting, etc. People who jot down interesting words and phrases. People that highlight quotes on their kindle or physical book. People who love the musicality and rhythm of language.
Why is your imprint named Stumblebum Press? I like the term ‘stumblebum’ because it has visual and verbal repetition in it, like other words and phrases that I frequently select to paint. I like that it sounds nonsensical, because I enjoy absurdity and silliness. When I was a kid, I loved things like The Klutz Book of Magic (which came with a rubber thumb), and poems by Shel Silverstein. And it’s a nod to one of my favorite painters, Philip Guston. He built a career as a successful abstract painter and then began doing these clunky looking, cartoonish drawing/paintings that included dark and off-putting subjects - a New York Times art critic said that Guston was “a mandarin pretending to be a stumblebum.” It’s a great turn of phrase and a funny idea - someone highly advanced parading around as a buffoon. This proved to be inaccurate and Guston is known today as an artist’s artist - inspiring generations of painters to buck trends and follow their personal voice.
How did you choose the 50 words featured in the book? Haphazardly over a long period of time. I began jotting down words in 2021, not really knowing why - more like a compulsion. In the past, I painted portraits, so I had to figure out how to incorporate text into my painting practice. Each month, I have a Note on my phone like ‘July 2025 Words’ and every time I hear or read or think of an interesting word or phrase, it goes into that note. The difficulty of the book was paring this down to 50 words instead of 500.
Why are there pages with the word repeated 4 times? It’s a practice page, so you can get acquainted with the spelling and structure of the word. It’s also an ‘oops’ page, in case you use markers and forget to use a bleed-through page.
How did you come up with the definitions? By jotting down what popped into my head, refining them, and then running them all by a professional editor for accuracy. The idea is to provide a short, memorable definition - not what you would find in the dictionary but the shorthand that you’d use with a good friend if you were explaining the gist of the word. Everyone has easy access to online dictionaries now, so there wasn’t any point in repeating something that is readily available. Also, to keep it fun and light, not serious. This is a coloring book, it ain’t ‘rocket surgery.’
Do the patterns match the words they are paired with? Not on purpose, although you may be able to come up with some Freudian explanations, if you work on it. I wanted the patterns to be fun to color. There are homages to pop art, like Roy Lichtenstein dots, Andy Warhol camouflage, and a Jasper Johns target. Also lots of inspiration from nature like shark’s teeth, brain coral, and flowers.
Is the book related to your paintings? 100%. I think of this coloring book as an extension of my paintings, a companion. What interests me most is the audience participation - when you buy this book and start coloring it, you are stepping into the artistic process and making something new and unique. Hope that folks will share their work as they color.
Are you going to make more of these books? Yes! I already have ideas underway for several more books.
Is the book available in bookstores? Right now, it is only available on Amazon. That may change in the future.
Are the words in alphabetical order in the book? Nope, I made an effort to keep things varied as you work your way through. I also included an index, so that it’s easy to locate a specific word.
Is the book appropriate for kids? The target audience is teens and adults, but parents have the final say. My daughter is 11 and heading into middle school - she just finished reading Jurassic Park and she has absolutely read and used the coloring book. Other parents may not want their kids to see words like ‘shit’ or ‘bastard’ - although kids are probably exposed to much worse language on the school bus or via the modern world of digital information bombardment.
It says intended for colored pencils, can I use markers? I believe that there are no rules in art. As Marshall McLuhan said, “Art is anything you can get away with.” Colored pencils work best because of bleed-through. If you use something like a marker, just be sure to place a piece of paper or cardstock between pages to avoid messing up the next page. In the words of Beck Hansen, “Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz.”