Colouring when you don't want to choose colours

A lot of people say they would like to colour but never begin. The reasons are familiar. A page with forty shapes means forty decisions. A tin of pencils feels like a test. They worry the colours will clash, or they will spoil the picture, or it will look childish next to something they imagined.

None of that is a lack of talent. It is a lot of choices at once, at the end of a long day, when you wanted to do something easy. If that sounds like you, a book that removes the choosing is a fair answer, not a trick.

One pen, and the page tells you where it goes. A small dot sits in every shape to colour, and the shapes without a dot stay white. There are no decisions to make about colour, and you can't pick the wrong shade. Pens are not included in One Pen Pages books, so use any dark felt tip or fineliner you already have.

What is left is simple: find a dot, fill the shape, find the next. If you want the full picture, our guide to what a one-colour colouring book is explains how it works.

With one page, on an evening when you have no plans. You don't have to finish it. The page keeps, and the pen goes back in the drawer.

Look for the dots in the margin. Each of the 35 scenes in a book is marked from one dot to three, so you can see at a glance which pages are which. Open the book, find a one-dot page, put the kettle on, and begin.

Dots in the margin of each page say how busy it is:

• One dot: an easy page, with bigger shapes and fewer of them. The place to begin.
• Two dots: a medium page, with more going on and smaller shapes.
• Three dots: a detailed page, with lots of small shapes. Save it for a long evening, or spread it over several.

Move up when you want to, not before. Many people keep a one-dot page for tired evenings long after they are happy with a three-dot one.

By what you like looking at. There is no skill level to match. Cats, garden birds, tea and cake, the seaside, a cottage garden, a Christmas kitchen: pick the one you would hang on the wall.

Not sure? Browse the One Pen Pages titles and see which cover you keep going back to. If it is for someone else, our gift guide for Mum or Nan helps you choose.

Stop and shake them out. Colouring is something you can put down at any point, and the page waits. A pen with a comfortable barrel helps, and a light touch is kinder to your hand than pressing hard. A fibre tip or fineliner glides more easily than a ballpoint.

Take a break between shapes, stretch your fingers, and come back to it. There is no clock on the page. If you work with your left hand, there is a left-handed copy at the same price.