With “Mindful Mackinac,” Jennifer Wohletz and her artist daughter, Natalia, provide an insiders’ look at the Upper Peninsula’s Mackinac Island — and invite visitors to pack their crayons and colored pencils to capture this slice of paradise’s most iconic sites. Beyond pages that feature everything from the Grand Hotel to the island’s historic lilacs, the coloring book also challenges Mackinac lovers to head out on scavenger hunts and take on crossword or word-search puzzles.
“We have a cottage here on the island and we’re always asked, What do you do here other than stroll Main Street and eat fudge?” says Jennifer Wohletz, a professional photographer who also runs the Milford- and Mackinac Island-based publishing company called Mackinac Memories (mackinacislandmemories.com).
Natalia, on the other hand, is a printmaker and owns a gallery and frame shop, Main Street Art, in Milford. Together, the two published “Mindful Mackinac” one year ago. So far, they report that sales have been brisk.
Michigan Blue magazine sat down with Jennifer to find out how to use the book, and discover which color you’ll need a lot of if you’re going to do the pages justice.
Michigan Blue: Since everyone asks you about things to do on Mackinac besides eat fudge and check out Main Street, what’s your response and how does that play into your book?
Jennifer Wohletz: We tell them what we do with our guests when they come to visit — where we tour and what our favorite places are. All of those locales and diversions are showcased in the book.
MB: Who drew the images on the pages?
JW: Natalia. As an artist and printmaker (Peninsula Prints, peninsula-prints.com), she hand-drew the line drawings digitally, based on my photos.
MB: What do people like most about the book?
JW: It’s for all ages and it gives you fun facts about the island.
MB: Tell us about the photo scavenger hunts.
JW: You can create teams, break up in two groups, then race to the destinations, take photos of them, and meet back in town or wherever to see who has the most, first. We’ve done that with our family and friends, and thought it would be a neat addition to the book.
MB: What are some of the coloring subjects?
JW: Lilacs, the Grand Hotel’s secret garden, the ferry ride over with the Mackinac Bridge in the background, the Round Island Lighthouse, Fort Mackinac, Fort Holmes, Arch Rock as seen from the water’s edge and looking down from it, geraniums, cottages, hollyhocks, monarchs, the Mission Point gazebo, sailboats, Sugar Loaf rock, horses, dock porters, the forest, wildflowers such as trillium and lady slippers, and even the Christmas tree on Main Street in the winter.
MB: What supplies do people need to color the pages?
JW: You can use colored pencils or crayons. Coloring within the lines is not required!
MB: I’d think this would be the perfect family activity while on the island.
JW: Definitely. Parents and grandparents buy the book in multiples, for everyone they’re traveling with. They do the scavenger hunts and they go to specific places in the book and color the subject together, as a family. They’re essentially coloring their way around the island.
MB: I bet the simple act of coloring, no matter what your age is, can take you down memory lane and make you feel like a kid again, right?
JW: Yes! I loved to color as a child. I had the large box of crayons with the little sharpener in it. My favorite colors were all the blue ones — and, by the way, you’ll need a lot of different blues to create the gorgeous Straits of Mackinac waters in the book. Natalia loved to color, too; she would sort her crayons and colored pencils by rainbow colors. She was very organized, and still is!
MB: What’s next for you and Natalia regarding this concept?
JW: Postcards! We’re going to make individual cards and sets of coloring postcards.
Find It
“Mindful Mackinac” (published by Mackinac Memories) is an 8- x 10-inch soft cover book that retails for $12.95. It features fun facts written by Michigan native and author Sue Allen, 33 coloring pages, three photo scavenger hunts, seven word searches, and a crossword puzzle. Order it at mackinacislandmemories.com or purchase it at Main Street Art in Milford. You can also buy it on Mackinac Island at Little Luxuries, the Island Bookstore, and the Grand Hotel. The company’s new Iconic Scenes of Mackinac Island jigsaw puzzle is also available at Main Street Art or online.
