A self-made multipotentialite.

That’s what best describes Richard Reece and his many different interests and creative pursuits in life.

A graphic artist by trade, the Auburn man is an innovator, craftsman, award-winning board game maker, historian, collector, abstract painter and writer who occasionally likes to strum his guitar. He continuously comes up with colorful, intriguing ideas and often sees them appear in vivid form. Art, in its many splendors, is his passion, his next great adventure.

“I’m somebody who wants to do everything,” said Reece, 50, gazing at the large library of books and eclectic things that occupy his upstairs art studio. “I’ll be interested in something for a while, then burn out and find something else. … Ideally, I would like to be the center of an artistic think tank, throwing out ideas and having others ‘make it happen.’

“… I like to keep on going and doing what I’m excited about.”

Lately, it’s been creating adult coloring books, a craze found throughout the world.

Reece recently published his first such work through Amazon and createspace.com, “Psychedelic ’60s Adult Coloring Book” ($6.59), which features 30, frame-able themed artworks of that era. The images are about the “happy ’60s,” Reece pointed out, a reflection of an interesting time in America.

“Some are whimsical, others are thoughtful, but all of them are about the fun and happy things that the late ’60s were all about,” Reece said. “I barely lived in that time (as a child), but I’m fascinated by the ’60s. I love the music, the craziness of it. … I have a deep knowledge and special love for the times.”

Each work is a thoughtful composition about either a subject, like hippy buses and music festivals, or flashes a popular art style of the ’60s, like that seen in “Yellow Submarine” or on period psychedelic concert posters. And most drawings feature an informative or witty information bit on the reverse side of the page about things like the popular artists of the time, or how ’60s music was influenced by Indian musicians, Reece explained.

The coloring book is inviting, relaxing and enlightening.

“I feel like it’s a skeleton of art, and coloring it makes it a piece of artwork,” Reece said. “It’s really cool seeing other people coloring my stuff.”

The book follows Reece’s first colorful book project, the one he designed for families and kids for the Auburn Valley Humane Society, illustrating pet safety and fun. He enjoyed the work. He wants to do more coloring books.

“I’m just excited about people coloring my book,” he said.

Reece has always been a creative soul.

Raised in Florida, he earned a degree in religious studies. He tuned into electronics for a time and worked as a computer tech.

He’s married to Kristin, an artist who works today as an environmental scientist for Boeing. They lived in California for a while, but, looking for a change of pace, soon discovered the comfort of the Pacific Northwest in 2001. They have stayed ever since.

While Reece’s work involves all things creative – from designing Web pages to business cards – he finds time for his growing hobbies. He built furniture and cigar-box guitars for a time, dabbled in poetry and wrote short books.

One his most successful grand inventions was “Castle Keep,” a board game that won eight industry awards and sold more than 65,000 units nationally and worldwide.

Reece has many projects he wants to pursue. It’s just finding the right idea at the right time. To him, creativity has no bounds.

“If I had the patience, I would publish a novel,” he said. “But it’s probably not going to happen. I have a (wandering) mind of a kid. I just do what’s fun, what’s exciting to do.”