Hi!

I’m Jess, an author, illustrator, mother to two teens, corgi owner, nature-lover, roller skater, and fantasy basketball champion. My work and I are most often described as happy, whimsical, playful, energetic, and colorful. Watercolor is my go-to, but I also play with collage, ink, colored pencils, and digital media every day from my house’s little art studio in Bellevue, Washington.

I grew up in Fort Myers, Florida where I admired seashells on Sanibel Island, avoided rattlesnakes on forest trails, swam in the cold springs with manatees, rode horses, gathered clams in buckets, canoed through mangroves, and sailed through the Florida keys with my family on my father's sailboat. My mother, a piano teacher and journalist, lover of the arts and literature, took me to musicals and museums, choir practice, flute lessons, dance class, and young author's conferences and my parents read to me every night. Those influences are evident in my writing and art-making.

I have:

• performed on stage as an actor, dancer, pianist, and flutist
• earned a B.A. in Humanities with a minor in Creative Writing at Stetson University where I also edited the literary magazine, Touchstone, and ran Poetry at an Uncouth Hour, a weekly open mic night
• managed a paint-your-own-pottery store
• co-owned an artisan gelato business
• worked in art education at Orlando Museum of Art and as an office manager at the nonprofit Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
• exhibited handmade art books in Chicago and England
• sold crocheted toys on Etsy
• taught nature journaling to kids in Oakland, California
• homeschooled my children for nine years using picture books as my curriculum of choice

Today, I write and illustrate books that I hope help children notice and appreciate the world's wonders and beauty. I want kids to feel small and full of awe, as well as mighty and empowered to help make the world an even more wonderful place to be. Thank you for being here!