Category: 
About
Some of my earliest memories of childhood are of ceaseless drawing and the exploration of my environment. Drawing came naturally to me and my love of nature and science helped me develop a keen eye for observation. Most of my interests were a melding of science, animals and art. I knew from an early age that somehow I wanted to use my talent as an artist to carve out a career.
Having grown up as an only child on a farm in southern New Jersey, I was surrounded by the subject matter that often appears in my work today. My father, a Danish immigrant, was gifted with the Scandinavian art of storytelling and my imagination was infused with tales of trolls and ancient folklore. I loved drawing animals, insects and especially trees. I drew portraits of my friends, my parents, my dog and cat and of course horses. My interest in illustrating children's books blossomed during this time and has persisted throughout my life.
My other passion was science and I combined the two areas of interest and graduated college with a BA in biology and art. Upon graduation I embarked on a career as an art director in advertising that lasted for almost 16 years. A majority of my advertising career was involved in the field of medical and health care. During this time I found that I was fascinated by surgical techniques involving the products that we advertised and was given the opportunity to illustrate one of these techniques... the client was thrilled and I embarked on another facet of my artistic career.
An opportunity to leave advertising and start my own studio finally arose in 1989, at which time I created Mill Race Studio. Initially my projects involved design, marker comps as well as illustration but in 1995 I decided to concentrate on illustration exclusively. I maintained my medical clients and signed on with Wilkinson Studios, Inc. to rep my children's illustrations.
That was 12 years ago and I am still immersed in the dichotomy of maintaining two seemingly opposite areas of interest... and loving every minute of it.
i am interested in buying the brer rabbit
and the tar baby book, my 17 y.o. downsydorm /autisic son
found your book on wendys web site.
and i cant find it on amazon or e-bay.
if you could advise me on how i my find
the book with your illustration.
thank you.
Dear Alan,
Thank you for your inquiry… I have contacted my rep to see where you might find this story. My work was just one of a number of stories in the book which was called “Read and Learn with Classic Stories” for grade 2. It was printed in 2002 by McGraw Hill Children’s Publishing. Their Web site is http://www.MHkids.com... you might try that. In the mean time I will see what I can do to find you a copy. I am pleased that your son found my illustrations interesting and worthy of the inquiry!
Sincerely,
Wendy Rasmussen