Point Pelee's birds set to star in adult colouring book

A local birding expert hopes her new colouring book will help stressed adults tap into their inner kid.

Sarah Rupert, an artist who also works at Point Pelee National Park is set to release Warblers, an adult colouring book featuring her favourite species of bird on Oct. 3.

"It's a little gem that came out of my art journalprocess," Rupert told CBC Radio Morning host Tony Doucette in a recent interview.

"I've been seeing a lot of adult colouring books popping up in bookstores and remembered how much I enjoyed nature and colouring books growing up," she said.

Stress relief with crayons and coloured pencils

Not just for kids, adult colouring books are an emerging medium for adults to relieve stress. Amazon lists 88 titles, with one The Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book claiming to have sold two million copies.

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People tend to lose their creative spark as they age, Rupert said. She hopes hours spent colouring her intricate drawings of birds can help them regain it.

"I want to see people reconnect with that sense of creativity they had as a child," Rupert said. "I know from my own personal perspective, I was afraid to call myself an artist for a very long time. I've been drawing and painting my entire life, but I've only been confident enough (to identify as an artist) because I let go of that critical thought that I wasn't good enough."

'Warbler capital of North America'

The pictures are inspired from the warblers that make their home at Point Pelee. Each spring, warblers stop at the park during their migration and the national park touts itself as the 'Warbler Capital of North America.'

Birders once recorded 34 of the 59 different species of warbler at the park during one spring migration.

Though Rupert's warblers are accurate representations of the real birds and can be used for birders hoping to learn more, she said it's not important that people colour them correctly.

"At a certain point, when we were kids, our art started getting judged, where some things were right and wrong. I think a lot of people get discouraged because of that," Rupert said. "I think I can spark some creativity, there is a lot of white space so people can doodle and put their own things in and add to it. That's what I really want to see happen."

"If they don't want to colour the bird as what they look like, that's okay too," Rupert said. "If they want to colour the bird purple and green and the bird's really yellow and blue, that doesn't matter to me."