Steaming Mug Of Cocoa By A Window Coloring Page

A wide bellied mug sits on a windowsill, and the artist has given it a handle on each side, which makes it read more like a soup bowl than a teacup and gives the page a pleasing symmetry. Three fat marshmallows crowd the surface of the drink, each one a rounded rectangle with a soft dent in the top. Above them two long ribbons of steam curl upward and cross each other before they fade out near the middle of the sheet. Behind the mug stands a window divided into panes by two straight bars, and through the glass a bare branch reaches in from the left with small buds on its tips. That branch is doing the seasonal work here. It tells you the weather outside is the reason for the drink. The shapes are large and there are few of them, which makes this a good sheet for a younger child who has grown tired of fiddly line work. A useful trick is to leave the steam and the marshmallows white, color the mug in one strong shade, and put the coldest color you own outside the window so the warm inside and the cold outside argue with each other across the glass.