About the Author

My new book BRANCH BY BRANCH NOTE BY NOTE: Finding Real Friends can be purchased on Amazon. The book is filled with interesting characters that go on silly adventures that are both funny and educational. The book has a moral lesson that children can easily relate to and understand. I love using rhyming words that flow throughout the text to keep young readers engaged. I believe that words are powerful. They should be selected carefully. A good story should be fun, interesting, engaging and relatable. 

I have had many interesting art jobs in my life that have lead me to the place were I am right now. Creative writing has always come naturally to me. When I was at university I was encouraged to become a writer. I remember telling my English writing professor that I would never be good at grammar or spelling. How could I possibly become a writer? As a child I had missed way too much school from chronic asthma and never really learned a lot of the rules of the English language. He quickly replied, "Editors will fix that but creative writing is a gift." Of course,  I am summarizing what he said - I can't remember it exactly as that was many years ago. Needless to say, years of struggling with poor grammar had dwindled my confidence down to zero.  I did keep his kind words in the back of my mind as I pursued other creative endeavors. Incidentally,  that very illness that isolated me and kept me from school also gave me the ability to be creative. Being alone with one's thoughts is a great way to find an inner voice.

After graduating from college with a BFA in graphic design I tried lots of new things that taught me many valuable creative skills and life lessons. 

Okay, here comes the bio. I have worked as a graphic designer for a Fortune 500 company, a free-lance police sketch artist, and my illustration work has appeared in Minnesota Moments Magazine. I have had many notable clients including Adobe Systems. My portraits and fine art can be found in multiple private collections. I have also taught as a community education instructor, artist in residence, design teacher in the public school system, and as a private art instructor. 

As a free-lance police sketch artist I worked with witnesses and victims of violent crime, working hard to create accurate drawings of perpetrators to aide in their arrest. The greatest lesson I learned from that experience is that we all live in a world that can be unkind and that we all need to work daily on the skills of compassion and understanding. 

As a substitute teacher and a graphic design teacher in the public school system I taught the students all about art, and in turn, they taught me about life. I observed all types of students: confident, shy, caring, happy, sad, hurting, bullies, friendly, unfriendly, responsible, and irresponsible. Just like in the adult world we are all different. We have different strengths and weaknesses. We all live with our own challenges as we embark on this journey we call life. Sometimes we need to hear a kind word and sometimes we need to say a kind word. 

None of us can be kind all of the time. We all fall short of this goal. We are emotional beings. However, being kind is something we can practice everyday if we make it a priority. 

Long story short I try my best to create books that encourage children to treat others with kindness and respect. 

I have learned to embrace both my successes and my imperfections. I enjoy creating artwork and stories that encourage positive thinking, kindness, and togetherness in a world that is getting more isolated and disconnected. I love to create and share my stories and art! We still live in a hopeful world where kindness and love can be our light.

My favorite mediums are acrylic paint, graphite, colored pencil, and digital art and design. And of course, I also enjoy writing stories about a little girl and two silly little bears.