BREMERTON — If you’ve been to an arts-and-crafts store, or even just a grocery store, lately, you’re probably aware of a growing trend: adult coloring.

It’s not as simple as cartoon-inspired coloring books for kids to help learn dexterity and to be creative. There are so many options with complex, intricate artwork designed for adults to color.

“The appeal? You can get creative with it,” said Greg Bugielski. “You can take something that’s already put together on paper and just color it the way you see fit. You can take something — like, I’ve got a skull right here. The way I color it, it can just be a real evil skull, it can be happy, you could go many directions with it.

“It lets you be creative.”

He and his wife Nicole Bugielski attended Liberty Bay Book’s second Cava, Cabs and Coloring event in Bremerton Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Toro Lounge.

Kate Daniels, a Liberty Bay Books employee who arranged the event, said their first coloring event in Bremerton only had about five people, but there were about 18 people joining the bookstore in the back room of Toro Lounge for food, drinks and a relaxing, creative outlet Feb. 16.

“It’s a special time to relax with friends and do something creative,” Daniels said.

She said that in Poulsbo, the first location of Liberty Bay Books and where the Cava, Cabs and Coloring event started, attendance is usually around 30 people, and once even got up to 70. In Poulsbo, and now in Bremerton, the event is a monthly occurrence, with dates, times and locations — which change month to month — posted on the website.

“I saw a Facebook post on Toro’s Facebook page,” Christine Davis said on what brought her to the coloring event Tuesday. “I received this coloring book … for my birthday, and I hadn’t colored in it yet, so I thought this would be a lovely combination to take time out to actually color.”

Davis said the appeal of coloring, to her, was all about clearing your mind.

“One article I read said there’s a meditative quality to it, because you’re able to focus on just coloring,” she said. “It seems very simple, the process of coloring and going in the lines, so your brain can kind of shut off for a little bit.”

She said she was only “about three sips of wine” into coloring, but she could see how that might be true.

“Honestly,” Davis said, “when I look at the designs, I can just see how you’d get mesmerized as you try and concentrate on that, and the whole world just melts away.”

Davis attended the event with her friend Molly Young, who also brought her own coloring book.

“My daughters have been (coloring) for a while,” Young said. “They’re in college, and they do it to relax. So I’ve been wanting to, but this is my first book.”

Beyond just coloring, the event itself sounded appealing to Young.

“I like the idea of doing it with your friends,” Young said. “I feel like you can talk and visit and socialize and color at the same time.”

Nicole Bugielski said that coloring is something she could see therapeutic benefits in. And she should know: she’s a therapist.

“It’s just calming,” Bugielski said. “It helps you focus your brain and not think about all those things that are swimming around there all the time.

“It kind of helps you get all those distractions out, and helps you focus on one thing you can control. You can choose the colors, you can choose the rhythm, you know that when it’s done, you’ve finished a task and you can feel good about completing something that you did.

“It’s just a great thing to do as adults, to just slow down and have some me time.”

Joining a Cava, Cabs and Coloring event with Liberty Bay Books is a good way to dip your toes into the water. You can get coloring pages at the event, to discover whether or not you want to commit to buying a coloring book yourself. Also, for the cost of $13, you’d get two glasses of beer, wine or hard cider, plus the opportunity to meet new people.

“I am really excited about the combination of wine and coloring,” Young said. “It’s kind of like your friends, wine, coloring. It’s pretty perfect.”

Visit libertybay books.com to learn about the next coloring event, expected tobe held mid-March at the Honor Bar in Bremerton.