Hi there!

I'm Jennifer. I make illustrations and ceramics from my studio in Baltimore, where I live with my husband and my dog Frisket in a century-old row house.

I've spent the past twenty years drawing pictures for children's books, editorial projects, and illustrated products. I work mostly in watercolor and watercolor pencils, obsessed with texture and the tiny organic wobbles that show the artist's hand. I love how pigments flow in water, break up and come together on paper—the granulation, the bit of chaos, the real and tangible evidence of how something was made. I use digital tools in my process, but I'm always building on tactile materials. Light and shadow, playful characters, rich environments—that's where I live as an illustrator.

Four years ago, I started taking ceramics classes at the Potters Guild of Baltimore. I wanted to apply my illustration skills to three-dimensional forms, and I wanted to make beautiful objects for my home. The kind of pieces inspired by Flemish masters and natural history illustration rather than contemporary children's books. Delft blues, Hudson River greens, scenes painted on plates and bowls that feel like tiny windows into another world.

Each ceramic piece is one-of-a-kind, made to last. I became a member of the guild in 2025, and now I'm at the studio twice a week, making vases, plates, and bowls that are as much about artistry as they are about function. (Turns out I love working with underglazes for the same reasons I love watercolor—blending and layering pigments over clay.)

I love working across both mediums. Illustration lets me tell stories for young readers. Ceramics lets me bring my drawing skills to objects you can hold, use, and keep for generations.

If you'd like to inquire about a commission, or just say hi, you can send an email via the contact form or message me on Instagram.

I'd love to hear from you!

Follow me on Instagram!

Underglaze is strange. It's like watercolor but also not at all. They share the same binder, but bisqueware absorbs water instantly. Clay particles gum up your brushes quickly. Colors change dramatically during firing. Each pigment reacts differently

I love how they look before they're fired.

#ceramicart #ceramicdesign #ceramicdecor

I got into ceramics to draw on three-dimensional forms, vases and bowls and such. Which makes it strange that I'm most drawn to this series of framed ceramic paintings. I create three-dimensional canvases just to paint on them in two dimensions anywa

Got into the Potters Guild. Tabled at my first market. Started blogging regularly. Learned enough Spanish to stumble my way around Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Somehow kept drawing and making all year, even if it was just client work during the mont

Select Clients:

Candlewick
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Sasquatch
Blue Star Press
Running Press
Rebel Girls
The Washington Post
The Star Tribune
The Wall Street Journal
eeBoo
Roger la Borde
Studio Eleven Papers

Awards and Honors

2024 World Illustration Awards Shortlist
2023 American Illustration 42 Chosen Winner
2023 BOit! International Illustration Competition Long List
2023 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Featured Artist, June
2023 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Draw This! Winner, February
2022-23 Nominee, The Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award
2022-2023 Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award Grades 3-5, Claude
2021 School Library Journal Starred Review, That's Betty!
2020 Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of the Year, Claude
2020 Kirkus Starred Review, Claude
2020 Missouri School Librarians Dogwood Book List for Nonfiction, Claude
2020 North Somerset Teachers Book Award, Short List, Songbird
2020 Washington Post, The Art of Our Pandemic Lives, Juried Selection
2019 Washington Post Best of Illustration
2018 Lilla Rogers Studio Global Talent Search Studio Award
2017 Fjallraven Kånken Art contest, Juried Winner