My work exists in a space in between contemporary painting and illustration. My years as an illustrator have had an influence on the visual language I have developed, but the sense of wonder I try to capture in my paintings is essentially, who I am. These new paintings are pure self-expression. I find myself increasingly returning to themes of nature and the urgency of our connection with it. Although figurative, they are sometimes human or an identifiable animal but often they are a mix-up of many things. I gather my ideas from my everyday experiences. I may be out hiking and observe an owl or a moth. These observations are significant to me. I illustrate these experiences in a variety of transformative ways. They may take on human form or get layered in with other things happening in my life at the time.
I begin these images intuitively, pencil to paper, with no preparatory sketch, leaving behind evidence of my decision making on the surface. I work in watercolor for it’s immediacy and frequent surprises. It is a medium that is never entirely in your control. How the pigments pool, rally, misbehave and delight, is a true collaborative experience.
I specialize in making illustrations for children. I have illustrated nine picture books and loads of other images for magazines, newspapers and toys. I like the design process in interpreting text and ideas into a visual form.
My clients have included: Be Ready Explorers, Bloomsbury Books, The Chicago Tribune, Chronicle Books, Cricket Magazine, Dutton Children’s Books, Harper Collins Children’s Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Innovative Kids, The LA Times, Loyola Press, Milwaukee County Parks, Mudpuppy Toys, The Nashville Public Library & The Southern Poverty Law Center.
I have also taught illustration at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and was able to mentor some inspiring people into their own creative lives.
Bookbinding is a time consuming, frustrating, persnickety craft and that’s exactly why I love it. I can lose myself in its demands. I learned craft binding from as many sources as I could near me such as the School at Ox-Bow and the Newberry Library in Chicago. More recently, I dove even deeper and learned fine binding at The American Academy of Bookbinding.