Querida Lu Ahn Funck

From a very early age, I was taught that there were stories in art and an art to telling stories. I was drawn (pun intended) into art at a very early age, sitting at my mother’s knee watching her paint. I would sit beside her, on my hands, so I didn’t accidentally touch the oil paint, and watch magical things unfold. Frequently, as most 3-year-olds do, I would ask questions. Endless questions that must have driven my mother nuts, but she never let on. And some of my questions were answered with stories.

I became an artist at her knee, drawing the people that I thought lived in her paintings. I was an accomplished portrait artist by my teens, and traded cartoon strips with my mother during college instead of writing traditional letters home. Many years later, after taking a course at the local technical college with Caldecott Medal Winner, David McLimans, and my adventure in children's books began in earnest. Oh, and Fluffy is real!