Pleased to meet you! My name is Arwen.

I grew up on a farm, using armchair treks through children's books to spend time in other worlds. My favorite place to read was midway up a cottonwood tree by the back pasture, where I could drink in the blue mountains between pages. I was lucky.  The view from the back porch was full of animals, fields, and far horizon that called out for watercolor paints. I was also lucky to have an uncle that kept me supplied with paint boxes, a patient mom, and a grandmother who sent me wonderful children’s books from San Francisco.

My childhood mediums were watercolor and pen and ink, and I carried my sketchbook with me to the fields. In school, I drew landscapes in the margins of the blue lined paper.

Although I went on to become an engineer, I first completed an illustration thesis at Reed College in Portland. After working for many years in aerospace, I found myself at NASA in California, where I returned my sketchbook to the great outdoors during field work in the Arctic and the Chilean Desert. Back at home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I frequently wrote grants, helping scientists express their ideas while working with teams against steep deadlines.  

It was during one of these stints of creating castles in the air that I found the Academy of Art University’s Children’s Book coursework.  After years of cubical grey I was ready to bring the color back into my life. Mixing school with my day job helped me add new skills to my old love. I look forward to combining all my experience to illustrate new books for new eyes.