When I was too young to understand such technological marvels, perhaps five or six years old, my father took me to the newspaper printing press of The Commercial Appeal to drop off advertising layouts and copy for the morning paper. I was spellbound by the noise of the press, the speed, the smell of ink. To this day I'm convinced I was early on imprinted with love for printing, with ink running through my veins.

 As an artist I've worked in many different fine art printmaking media, but never used one for a children's book until I decided to use monoprints for two of my recent picture books, "Here Comes the Night" and "My Preschool." I wanted the illustrations to have to soft yet vibrant effect that this technique offers.