What do you do?  How did you get started?

I had always wanted to write and  illustrate children’s books. When I was a kid I even had a name for a book in my head: “My Uncle Louie’s Mustache.”  I have no idea where that name or that idea came from. I had two Uncle Louie’s and I was not close to either of them, nor did I have a fondness for either of their mustaches. But I do remember sitting in bed, sick, and thinking that this would be the title of my first book. That was in the 1950’s.

And then I did nothing towards this goal for a long time.

Fast forward to many years later, when I was in college. I was choosing between going to Parsons in NYC for illustration, or SUNY Buffalo for a BFA with a teaching degree (to be practical and keep my mother happy). I ended up in Buffalo, so I could be with my future husband (less important than keeping my mother happy, even  back then). We both left for Buffalo together and had some interesting experiences with people, work, and art. We had a small puppet company called “Moonberry Puppet Theater” and we performed in and around the Buffalo area for a few years.

Of course, art school is the place to go if you really want to screw around with your head and your confidence. I finished school and refused to draw or paint for several years. Instead, being in a very fertile area for fine crafts, I fell in love with fiber arts and I spent ten years creating the kind of people  in cloth that I had loved drawing and painting.

Eventually I started drawing again and realized that there was nothing that could compare to the immediacy of two dimensions. When we moved to Boston I made the shift to illustration.

What type of research did you do before you got started?  Did you have any background in this work?

Nothing I learned in college prepared me for the business of illustration. I took a couple of graphic design courses, and I looked at every illustration in newspapers and magazines that I could. I checked out the annuals. Most of all, I just started drawing and painting like crazy. In about 6 months I had a portfolio.

How did you manage starting your career financially (loans, pay cuts, savings)?

I was lucky in that my husband was done with graduate school and now he was working.

How do you market yourself and your business?

In the beginning, I made inexpensive B/W copies in copy places on card stock for handouts. I started cold calling places to go: newspapers, advertising agencies, publishers. The editorial people told me I should go see the children’s books publishers. The publishers told me I should visit the editorial people. Ultimately, my first work was editorial because my art had a darker side and an edge, and back then edgy art for kids’ books was not so hot in the market.

In addition, whenever I would take a vacation, I would schlepp my portfolio around to places. I got a lot of  magazine and newspaper work around the country  doing that.

I pounded the pavement like any good salesman does.

When I was finally starting to get some work, I also took out sourcebook ads, which are very costly.

Describe your work setting.

Right now my studio is a nice room right off my kitchen, with very high ceilings and skylights. I have a sink area and a wall of desk/cabinets/drawers. I also like it cozy, so I close my self in, surrounded by furniture.  I keep lots of collectible junk in there, too: old cards, old Golden Books, dolls, toy refrigerators, robots, carnival chalkware, vintage eye ware--oh, and art, too.

What do you most enjoy about your work?

It  makes me smile. Don’t get me wrong--I love illustration that is “beautiful,” but most of all I love illustration that brings a smile to my face. It doesn’t have to be comic, per se, but it should have a little tongue in cheek.Doing my work makes me smile. Always has-even the dolls. I cannot stand art that takes itself too seriously.

I also love putting the things I collect into my art. In the picture book, “Shoo! Scat” (written by Lois G. Grambling. Cavendish, 2004) I tried to put some of my stuff in, like my salt and peppers. In the Bones series (by David Adler, Viking 2004) I did a lot of wild eyeglasses .  In my next book, “The Ballad of Tex and Sugar,” for Sterling 2007, I am putting lots of my favorite cowboy stuff in.

My dream book would take place in the 50’s, and have all the priceless junk I collect in all the pictures.

Maybe I just have to write that book......

How do you achieve a balance in your family and personal life?  Is your family involved with your work?

I barely do.  I get my kids to school and I make sure they are fed, although I am not into cooking these days. I have a high “mess threshold”.  I can step over stuff for months if I am involved in my work.

My husband is a tremendous supporter--in all ways possible. He gets the passion and always has. Luckily for me, he has been able to suppress his strong need for order and neatness.

What keeps you inspired?

Everything. People, stuff, clothes, pets, kids. I find that I am more focused now than I have ever been.

What advice would you give to others as they pursue their own creative goals?

Tenacity is AS important, if not MORE important, than talent.

What does success mean to you?

Success is the opportunity to bring my vision to as many stories as possible for the rest of my life--my own and the stories written by others. I want to have a book out every year.

Tell us something about your self not related to this interview, but that is unique.

I cannot smell a blessed thing. This was a  BIG problem when I had kids in diapers. It was good when went out on dates with boys who farted a lot. My French Bull Dog farts all the time. She clears the room. I can’t smell them at all.

I also collect jukeboxes (full size old ones) and I have decided that Elvis Presley  really WAS the king of Rock and Roll and  that songs sung by Dean Martin make you happy to hear him sing. He was the King of Relaxation and Having Fun.

I, on the other hand, cannot sing to save my life.

Have you always been creative?

Yup, although not everything I ‘ve created has been successful, so to speak. Ask my husband about my Brownie inventions. Inedible.