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I'm an artist and children's illustrator living in Columbus, Ohio who works in watercolor and gouache.
I have mild obsessions with nature, gardening, vintage children's books and collecting old things.*

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*I am also in no way a brief person (hence the footnote)
so if you'd like a much more thorough conversation about me and my work, take a look down below!

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Ducklings

MUSES & INFLUENCES

My work is greatly influenced by my childhood growing up in the country--hours spent playing in the woods and reading as many stories as I could get my hands on. I'd collect all manner of things from nature--rocks, sticks, leaves, bugs--and turn to my grandpa's library of old books to learn all I could about them. Naturally, I began creating my own fantastical worlds at a young age, often populated with all the woodland creatures I saw on my adventures. 

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My love for these things has only grown with time, as evidenced by my house full of animal figurines, vintage children's books, field guides and rocks. When I go to draw or paint, these things are often in the back of my mind and inevitably show up in my work. 

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PROCESS & TOOLS

My favored technique involves building up watercolor washes and layering gouache on top for the details. That is definitely what I find most enjoyable about the process--I've been known to get caught up in painting little bits of moss a time or two.

Here are some of my most indispensable 
tools from start to finish:

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  • gridded paper for hand lettering and
    fine-tuning compositions    ​

  • Fudenosuke Brush Marker or Prismacolor
    pencil for linework

  • hunks of natural sea sponge for applying texture

  • a nice springy detail brush--I've actually started using my face painting brushes for gouache,
    they work swell!
     

I've also recently added digital painting to the
mix, as life with a toddler demands a
certain level of flexibility. 

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