Your favorite thing about West Virginia might be only a page away.
Have you ever wanted to draw or paint something breathtaking you’ve seen in West Virginia but felt you wouldn’t be able to fully capture its beauty? Maybe you’ve been inspired by one of the state’s many natural masterpieces, like Blackwater Falls, or by an architectural wonder, like the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory. Or maybe you just love all things Mountain State, like our state symbols and legendary West Virginians. Whatever you’re most proud of, you can now re-create the wild and wonderful no matter your artistic skill level. Payton Brown’s Mountain State Masterpieces: A West Virginia Coloring Book features hand-drawn illustrations of iconic locations for each of our 55 counties as well as state symbols and famous West Virginians like Randy Moss, Brad Paisley, and our very own Don Knotts.
A Morgan county native, Brown is an MFA student in painting at WVU. Although her thesis focuses on food and connecting over it, she also creates stickers, logos, commissioned drawings, and paintings. She decided to branch out into coloring books after hearing that her customers did not think they could create art themselves. “A lot of people say this to me, but I feel like if they tried something artistic, they’d find something they were good at,” Brown says. “I started making the coloring books essentially as a way for me to start the artwork and then for them to finish it.”
Mountain State Masterpieces is Brown’s fifth coloring book. After a collection centered on her hometown of Berkeley Springs, she wanted to create something the whole state could enjoy. She went to work researching each county, joining Facebook community groups, digging through historical archives, and exploring visitors centers in search of the perfect spot to represent each county. Brown chose the Berkeley Springs Castle to represent her home county, and Morgantown residents can look for Woodburn Hall to represent Monongalia County.
Some of her favorite pages include Harrison County’s Italian Heritage Festival, pepperoni rolls, Kenova’s Pumpkin House in Wayne County, and Jennifer Garner. “I was trying to make the book accessible for someone who’s 5 years old or 85 years old,” Brown says, “because I wanted everybody to be able to do it.”
Brown graduates in May and plans to illustrate even more exciting coloring books while pursuing teaching and a personal art business. You can purchase Mountain State Masterpieces from her website or at The F.A.R.M. in Granville, and you can keep up with her on Facebook and Instagram.
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