Let’s yak about me…

I grew up in a cozy town in the mountains of Pennsylvania, surrounded by creative artists and quirky collections. My mother was an artist and her mother was an artist (and now my daughter is an artist!). It wasn’t until I was a high school student that I realized that not everyone had an art studio as a required room in their home. I always wanted to illustrate picture books and maybe even get to write AND illustrate them. So, I went to art school and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Illustration.

After working at advertising agencies and honing my skills at now obsolete design technology, I went on to have my artwork featured as best selling calendars, humor books, needlepoint kits, collector plates, and a Louie Award winning line of greeting cards.

I’ve had my childhood dream come true and have been able to write and illustrate several books for children including; (March 2025) Moving Day, written by Teri Roche Drobnick and published by Margaret Ferguson Books / Holiday House, Always by My Side, which I wrote and illustrated and published by Random House, Playing Possum, which I wrote and illustrated (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Fishtastic! written by Tess Weaver and published by the University of Iowa Press, Gondra’s Treasure, written by Newbery award winning author Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Sometimes You Fly, written by Newberry award winning author, Katherine Applegate (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Blue Ethel, written and illustrated by me and published by Margaret Ferguson Books, Yaks Yak (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) written by Linda Sue Park, The Inventor’s Secret; What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford (Charlesbridge Publishing) by Suzanne Slade, Rabbi Benjamin’s Buttons (Charlesbridge Publishing), by Alice B. McGinty, and The Adventures of a South Pole Pig (Harcourt Children’s Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), written by Chris Kurtz.

I’ve traded the majestic mountains of Pennsylvania for the for the soft whisper of the midwest prairie. I now live in Iowa City, Iowa where I happily work in my comfortably messy studio. Doesn’t everyone have studio in their house?

What’s next? Keep an eye on my ‘What’s Gnu’ page for upcoming announcements and events. Also, please follow me on social media. I enjoy sporadically posting drawings like #oldphotofriday which I hope are fun to see. I also love collecting and learning about the history of objects, so check out my Fripperies page where I’ll put pictures about cool antique finds, fab art supplies, and interesting tidbits.