First of all THANK YOU to everyone for your overwhelming support of my work. WOW! It really warms my heart and I'm very, very grateful!! I'm excited to continue to learn, grow, and improve my artwork with such wonderful folks to show my efforts to. You are all great.

So a little introduction and more about myself may be in order. I think I'll paste what I have up over at DA for this.

My name is Jenn, and I live with my husband Zack, two cats, German shepherd mix, ball pythons, goldfish, starling, salamander, and budgerigars. I received a Bachelor of Science, with Honors, in Zoology from Colorado State University in 2006. During my time at CSU I was involved with field and lab research, as well as volunteer work that included animals such as mountain lions (Puma concolor), honey bees (Apis mellifera), horned lizards (Phrynosoma hernandesi), sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). I also rode for the varsity IHSA (equestrian) team and love horses! I’m currently in a Ph.D. program for Biological Sciences (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior) studying the social interactions and transmission of learned behavior in a wild population of American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos). I also prepare bird museum specimens at the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates (located at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology).

My time spent studying and interacting with animals has granted me with a strong reverence and appreciation for our natural world which often manifests itself in the form of artwork. I’m a big collector of natural items which I use for natural history and artistic studies that contribute to my illustrations and sculptures. I enjoy paleontological illustration because it’s the ultimate culmination of biological knowledge being put toward the evidence we have of how ancient wildlife lived. The same can be said for why I enjoy drawing fantasy animals, but in the case of fantasy I can create a unique natural history for my organism from scratch. However, I often try to keep a heavy foot in reality when creating fantasy creatures, which I find challenging and fun.

At this point I'm trying very hard to keep art in my life as I work up the academic ranks and focus on animal biology, but in the end my schooling always takes precedence. I will try to open for commissions when I can, but I often do mostly personal art in fear of making commissioners wait far too long for their commissions! I also improve as I have the time. I have no formal training in art beyond high school so I'm SUPER grateful for the help, instruction, and guidance given to me by my very talented friends (thank you, all of you).

That's about it... I guess if I'm not working with the crows, analyzing data, or teaching a lab, you can expect to find me hanging out with friends, wandering around the forest (exploring in general!), taking pictures, drawing, or horseback riding (when I can manage it).

Nice to meet all of you!