Born in Westport Connecticut in 1958, I was the youngest of six children in a family of artists.
My mom was a portrait and landscape painter, and my dad was a business man who always had an artsy hobby going on, like leather smithing, photography, knot tying and jewelry making. There were always tons of art supplies lying around and I remember drawing constantly.
My mom took me to her painting classes, my sisters took me to their drawing classes, and I went to sculpture lessons. Art was the most interesting thing to me, and I remember really loving art books. I enjoyed calligraphy also, and would spend hours in my room drawing.
By the time I was in high school, it was very clear to me that I was going to have a career in art. I went to Rhode Island School of Design to study painting. I loved the school, but I was unhappy in the painting department, so I switched to illustration halfway through my sophomore year. I loved illustration! I had great teachers like David Macaulay and Chris Van Allsburg. I didn’t decide on children’s books until well after I finished college. I had tried lots of different types of illustration, including magazine, newspaper, advertising, store windows and even scrimshaw. I chose children’s books because it seemed to be the most fun and offered lots of room for creativity.
I have loved illustrating children’s books for over 35 years. When I am not working on a book, I make paintings, mostly in oil. I like to experiment with different media. I also like to make tiles and throw pots. Working in 3D is a nice change from making flat pictures and I LOVE to get my hands dirty!
Some of my notable published work is the Beverly Cleary’s backlist, including the wonderful Ramona series in 2013-14.
I loved working with Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager on the picture book, “Our Great Big Backyard” in 2016, a NY Times #1 Bestseller. Recently, I illustrated two picture books for Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. The first, “Little Ree” also a bestseller, and then “Little Ree, Best Friends Forever” came out in 2018.
2019 welcomes “Goblin Moon” published by Harper Collins. An original halloween poem I wrote and illustrated.
While I still love to illustrate other authors’ manuscripts, I have found that my love for developing characters has led me to writing and illustrating my own picture books and now graphic novels. Writing for an older age group is very exciting, and I am working in photoshop and procreate to build a digital style to go with these stories.