 A
long time ago in a galaxy far away, my third grade teacher,
Miss Kokamei, told me I had a great imagination. She
encouraged me to draw and paint but said it was my imagination
that set me apart. |
Manoa
Valley Elementary School, Honolulu, Hawaii |
Above:
With one of my paintings in H.S.
Right:
My husband and children mid 1980's
|
I
took Miss Kokamei's advice to draw and paint, took
art classes, learned art techniques from my Grandfather, grew
up, married, raised four terrific kids, moved frequently
to lots of interesting places, had odd jobs, took more
art classess, and finally settled in the cool little
city of Frederick, Maryland, a place full of fabulous
graphic design and marketing firms as well as a rich
fine arts community.
|
My
first ADDY - it's a GOLD!
2008
Silver ADDY for Illustration
2007 Judge's Choice Award
2007 Gold ADDY for Illustration
2006 Two Silver ADDYs for Illustration
2005 Gold ADDY for Illustration
2004 Gold ADDY for Illustration
Illustration chosen for inclusion in 2004 American Graphics Design Awards.
|
In
2002 I started doing what I always wanted to do with
my art, which was to illustrate - tell stories with
pictures.
Left:
My first ADDY - it's a GOLD!
(Left)
My first Illustration ADDY in 2004. I
feel like the luckiest person in the world, I have
a super family, live in a dream city with grandchildren
within walking distance, and my job is my dream job.
As
an adult, I've wondered if Manoa Valley was really
as magical as I remembered or a product of my imagination.
Not long ago my husband and I visited and found that
my family had lived in a rain forest, my
brothers and I had walked to school in bare
feet, there was a waterfall at one end of
our street/trail and author Robert Louis Stevenson's
hidewaway "Little Grass House" was at the
other, there were flowers that bloomed only
at night, the mountains did rise straight
up from the backyard of our house, and, best of all,
a rainbow did appear every day over the
valley.
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