Sorry, just wanted show the middle picture in its entirety as the sides are SEVERELY truncated above.

They are all really pretty, the one with the birds looks good to me with the blue background but I know what you mean about no going back when you do something you wish you hadn't, I have binned a couple of pictures that I felt I ruined by adding colour when it was good without it.

I often lean toward blank backgrounds in my own work.  (mandalas being an exception).   I like the yellow on the first set.  

The last set is fine.  

I lean toward colored pencils and tiny gel pens which probably affects my blank background decisions.

I like the yellow one, but I also like it left white, I guess that means it's a pretty picture no matter what.  The middle one, I like the way you have it, but the third one I really liked white.  

Just me.

Bravo pour le français. Ouvre ton cœur. 

I like the first one best! You have so much patience to finish coloring the backgrounds. I'm amazed. It's fun to see what these look like with colored backgrounds. 

It is fascinating to see these comparison shots!  In the last one, I think the light blue looks quite nice.  It's funny that you feel the need to always put a background, and I almost never do.  I think, for me, it's the fact that I can see the colored pencils get physically smaller and smaller the more I use them.  Also, by the time I finish the page (with out the background), I am so tired of coloring by that point!

Very interesting to see different versions of the same designs. I like the flowers with the white and the yellow backgrounds, but I'm more partial to the yellow background version. I almost always color the backgrounds of my pages. The blue background of the garden looks very pretty to me and sets off the other colors well. I also like it white. If I'd done the one with the clock, I would have colored the background of the Roman numerals the pretty light blue to set off the dark blue numbers and outlined the smaller inner circle with the dark blue. Would have done the background with the gears over it the same light blue and the small area at the bottom of the circle with what looks like a doorknob sticking up probably the yellow color. The gears would be in various blues/yellows.  It's very interesting to see everyone's color choices and compare them to what I would do...it's always so different and inspiring!  Thanks for posting the designs so we could see your process...really interesting and beautiful coloring, by the way!  

I want to hang the yellow background flower one on my wall!

I have the same problem!  The yellow one is gorgeous, although the white is pretty too.  Does your Secret Garden book have off-white/yellowish coloured pages?  Mine does (yuck), so I get tempted to cover them up.  It might have been nice to have more contrast in the second one, but it's still really nice.  Your comments about the last one read like deja vu.  It was the first page I coloured, and I naively decided to do a dark sky (because there's starry things).  Different attempts at dark blue/dark grey shades failed, so I ended up colouring it all pitch black.   With pencil crayons.  It took FOREVER and I'm still not really happy with it.  Oh well.  Go background colourers!

PS. Please post the full picture of the last one!

This was actually from the Secret Garden Artist's Edition which has beautiful pages.  But I think in my 'regular' Secret Garden book the pages are pretty white.  I feel your pain though.  I will post the picture here, as you requested.  Would you consider posting yours here also, @bewilderedandbemused?  I'd love to see it with the black background, even if you aren't totally happy with it.  I'm sure it looks great!

LOVE all of it!

I like the blue backrground

I love all of them, but I'm partial to coloured backgrounds. And now I want to get this book as I love all the flowers. I've been working on a couple of pictures with markers and started colouring the background of the first one. Partway through I realized my markers most likely wouldn't make it til the end. It ended up looking OK but I blew through 2 markers in the process. For my second picture I'm trying to do the background with pencils to make my markers last longer.  I have no idea how it'll look with the mix of markers and pencils but I guess I'll see.

@Fascinated - I didn't realize yours were from the Artist's Edition!  That explains the differences - in the regular edition it's a two-page spread which is why I asked you to post the full picture (not knowing you had).  I definitely like your blue one better.  I like that we had similar instincts in terms of some of the colours - the leaves at the top and the fern things on the side!  

Here's mine.  Your post made me take another look at it, and I think I'm more happy with it now, at least looking at it from a distance.  Up close you can see the shininess of several layers of wax pencils, where I coloured things over (you can see this in the photo too) and other bits where I tried to "fix" things. I just liked it so much better before I decided to do a background

@bewilderedandbemused I love the black background,

A black background would not have been something I would have considered for this design, but looking at your version, I like it!  The colors POP and it's different.  Will  now be keeping the option of a black background in mind for future coloring, thanks for that, @bewilderedandbemused!

I love the black background too. I think it's a bold move too. 

     I struggle deciding between the two myself. 

Thanks for posting your version, @bewilderedandbemused.  I love the black background and, like @Tikobaby, I wouldn't have thought of it for that picture, but I really do like your version a lot.  I have done a black background once, on that ridiculously detailed one (if anyone remembers).  However, I am currently working on one where I am doing the background in black, and I'm pretty sure I'm ruining it.  I will post it regardless of the degree (or lack) of success, perhaps as a lesson to us all.  

On Saturday, April 09, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Fascinated said:

Thanks for posting your version, @bewilderedandbemused.  I love the black background and, like @Tikobaby, I wouldn't have thought of it for that picture, but I really do like your version a lot.  I have done a black background once, on that ridiculously detailed one (if anyone remembers).  However, I am currently working on one where I am doing the background in black, and I'm pretty sure I'm ruining it.  I will post it regardless of the degree (or lack) of success, perhaps as a lesson to us all.  

I'm working on my first black background too. I also think I'm probably ruining it but there's no going back once you start. You post yours, I'll post mine...

Thanks guys, you're awesome!  @Fascinated - I remember your black background I think... was it the incredibly detailed sea coral one from Lost Ocean?  That was breath-taking - black really made the colours pop. I also give you HUGE kudos for doing it, as it was so detailed.  

I have the same problem re: backgrounds.  I like the yellow background one and I am not a fan of yellow at all.  I think the blue one looks fine, as well.   If you think about it, the sky isn't pristine, flat blue.  There are bits of white via clouds and other subtle colors even on clear days so I think the blue looks fine in the pictures. 

@bewilderedandbemused, I like your black background, as well.  I like how black really makes stuff pop.   I have several books that have pre-printed black backgrounds and really like how they look when colored.

The pages in the special edition are one sided?   I have it on my wishlist, but haven't been willing to buy the "duplicate" when I have so many other things on my wishlist right now.