With the adult coloring craze sweeping the country, it’s no surprise that Hawaii now has its own adult coloring book. Local illustrator Kelly Monis has tapped into Maui’s visual inspiration to create intricately detailed drawings that she hopes will awaken the artist in all of us. Hawaii offers more than its share of artistic stimulus from the flora and fauna found in our neighborhoods to the vast array of colorful animals in the sea, in the air, and on land.
“Coloring books for adults–a genre once considered little more than a novelty–are suddenly a big business, a bright spot in the financial results of publishers and retailers alike,” said Sarah Halzak of The Washington Post. “Nielsen Bookscan estimates that some 12 million were sold in 2015, a dramatic jump from the one million sold the previous year.”
Monis said visitors will find Coloring Hawai‘i to be the perfect memento of their island vacation as they color in the pueo, honu, and torch gingers gracing the pages. Locals will love adding this title to their coloring book library as a point of pride as they color intricate tapa-like designs various culturally significant animals such as he‘e, humuhumunukunukuapua‘a, and ‘io, and iconic flowers and plants, she added.
Kelly Monis (née Furuya) grew up in Honolulu and completed the the Fine Arts program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. After working as a bookseller at Barnes and Noble for nearly a decade, Monis said she is thrilled to be able to share her first book with the public.
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