I’ve created or co-created twenty picture books since 1990 as author, illustrator or both.
Hi! I’m an artist, illustrator, published author, mom, grandma, and mediocre golfer. I live in the Hill Country outside Austin, Texas.
This is my studio. The best part of this space is that it feels like I’m working outdoors; there are lots of windows and french doors that I open when the weather is nice. Mostly in the late fall and early spring because the summer heat is brutal here. Hey, it’s Texas!
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I grew up in northeast Indiana where folks are tough in the winter but sort of wimpy in the summer heat.
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I joined the U.S. Army in 1973. Yep, I was a soldier. There, I met another soldier, hitching myself to a captain, and having two sons.
I'm an inept golfer, determined to become an average golfer someday...if I'm lucky.
I wrote and illustrated my first picture book in 1990, then hopped on a plane and lugged a giant portfolio around New York until an editor offered me a contract. On the fifth day in Manhattan, I got lucky. A young editor at Farrar Straus & Giroux offered me a contract. It felt like I’d won the lottery (Wait, was there even a lottery back then?).
Favorite food: chocolate
Favorite place: home
Favorite teams: Dallas Cowboys
Favorite child: Yeah, I'm not stupid!
I love making all kinds of art. These are welded steel sculptures, painted and placed in my back yard. My garden is another work of art, as well as a labor of love.