Rainbow Catcher?

When I told a friend of mine that I was subtitling my website, “Rainbow Catcher”, she asked, “What does that mean?”  Good question. To me, it’s a truly apt description of how I create. I start with observing, gathering, reflecting and processing everything I see in the world, and then I funnel it all back out into whatever creative outlets, (writing, drawing, photography, music, etc), call to me. Hopefully in the process, I’ve created something that speaks to the rest of the world and somehow makes a difference to someone, or changes the world for the better in some small or large way.

From Cleveland to NYC and into Online

I have been making art and music, and telling stories ever since I was a wee one, way back in Cleveland, Ohio.  My passion for photography and writing followed me to college, where I majored in political science, with aspirations of becoming a photojournalist.  My focus changed a bit though, when I graduated at the height of the tech boom. After leaving Vassar, I moved to NYC and spent many years in the internet world, as a web developer and product manager for various children’s media websites, including Nickelodeon online and Scholastic. During those years, I poured my creativity into my after work activities. By day I wrangled code and developers, and by night I took drawing and painting classes, and was the singer/ guitarist for a band called BFF (Best Friends Forever.) I eventually took a hiatus from web, got myself a degree in Fashion Design from Parsons, with intentions of creating a line of children’s wear later in life. With another degree under my belt, I hopped back into the online world for a blink to work on several news and lifestyle websites, but missed the children’s media aspect of the work, and jumped back out after a few years to complete several art projects.

Focusing on Family and Creative Projects

Shortly thereafter, I got married, had a child, and miraculously, was able to keep my day time free, so I could continue to focus on my art and writing, while also spending time with my daughter.  During those early years, I rekindled my love of picture books, spending hours in bookstores and libraries, pouring over books with her, and of course, amassing our own small library at home.  Eventually, she was off to nursery school, where I ended up volunteering as the school library organizer/ “librarian”.  It was right around that time I realized that not only do I love reading picture books, but I am bursting with ideas for writing them!  Several focused classes and how to’s, and I was off!

There’ll be a time when my daughter’s too old for me to read her picture books, but in the meantime, I’ll cherish these days.  In this past year, I’ve been able to truly focus on children’s book writing and illustration work, and have many manuscripts in the works. I’m looking forward to bringing those projects to completion!

I’ll always be a Rainbow Catcher and multimedia artist, and find that it is a huge advantage in keeping the creative ideas rolling and fresh!  Artist, writer, guitarist/ ukulele player, song writer and fashion designer– they all inform one another, like a constantly simmering creative soup.

Staying on my Path…

As a personal growth exercise, I’ve spent the last 10 years studying Qi Gong and the last two years studying Taiji, which have helped keep me on my path.  In January 2020, I finally began teaching a beginner’s Qi Gong class to adults, alongside my creative work.  Happily, they are extremely complimentary. You can read more about my Qi Gong class here.

Grateful for…

I would be remiss not to mention the incredible support of my family and friends, especially my loving husband and amazing daughter. (I have both of them to thank for at least half my picture book ideas!!)  My incredible critique group keeps me on my toes, my large group of girlfriends keeps me sane, my parents and brother keep me honest, and my qi gong community keeps me on my path.  But I must admit, there is nothing more gratifying than sitting at home with my family on a Sunday afternoon, with my daughter in her art corner creating her own fabulous art project; my husband rocking in his chair studying math and physics, and me, on the sofa, furiously scribbling sketches and ideas onto a storyboard.  Together, we are a family of rainbow catchers!