All I ever wanted to be was an Artist, which, if you want me to do some work for you, is all you really need to know. However, if you wish to know some background on how I got to be here, now, then read on ... I was born in the North of England near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. When I was 2 years old we moved to the Midlands, more precisely, Redditch, Worcestershire. I only ever wanted to draw and only ever answered ‘an Artist’ when someone asked me want I wanted to be when I grew up. Sometimes, people still ask me that! I lived in Redditch until I was 23 when I packed up and left for Reading, just outside of London to work at a Publishing Company. I started here as a Graphic Designer and after six years ended up producing 75% of the illustrations for the Educational books they published. I loved this job! I had great friends, lots of encouragement and lots of cookies. However, I was swept off my feet by a good old Minnesotan Man and after lots of interviews; piles of paperwork; miles of red tape; long, long, long transatlantic telephone conversations and thousands of instant messages I arrived in America in January 2004. We were married in -15F Minnesota weather - I’ve never been so cold in my life. Since then, my Husband and I moved to Northern Illinois and I’ve set myself up as a Freelance Illustrator. I love what I do, I love living in the Midwest, the people are great, I love the snow, and I love living so close to Lake Michigan. I don’t love the mosquitoes. When I'm not drawing - or trying to find my pencil - I love to go riding on the back of my Husbands V-Star motorbike, it's the best thing ever. In the winter I love to go snowmobiling or snowboarding. I'm really not that good at either but I enjoy doing it anyway. At the risk of sounding really domesticated I also really enjoy cake decorating (extreme, huh?) and I seem to spend a lot of time cleaning up after Molly, our supossedly litter trained house rabbit! I paint too - see 'other work' to see some samples of stuff I've painted. Answers to FAQ’s Yes it does rain a lot in England. Yes we do drive on the other side of the road, and yes my first car had a 1 liter engine. And, no, I didn’t have too much trouble learning to drive over here. No, actually British dentistry is very good. British food is fantastic and I miss it, a lot. No, I’ve never met the Beatles. Yes, actually, I have been to Buckingham palace and I did see the Queen once when I was 7 and she visited Redditch! No, funnily enough we don’t celebrate Independence Day in Britain. I would have to celebrate independence from myself. No, we don’t have Thanksgiving either. I don’t know why we call the day after Christmas ‘Boxing day’. ‘Pants’ to me is underwear - we call them ‘trousers’ No, the thought of having peanut butter and jelly in a sandwich doesn’t sound ‘yummy’, nor, for that matter does peanut butter on celery, and adding raisins on the top and calling it ‘ants on a log’ does not make me want to try it!