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Nancy Cote is an author and illustrator from Somerset, Massachusetts. Since 1992, she has created the characters and stories children have grown to love. Nancy Cote has illustrated forty-six Children’s Picture Books. Her work has been featured in the “ORIGINAL ART” exhibit in NYC, Scholastic Book Club, Highlights Magazine and has earned many awards including the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award, Society of School Librarians International Honor Book, ABA “Pick of the Lists”, Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, Florida Reading Association Children’s Book Award, CBC-IRA Notable Children’s Trade Book, Sidney Taylor Notable Book Award, and Parenting Magazine Best Book.

Nancy says,”Ever since I can remember, I have been either drawing or late for something. I find myself constantly being side tracked by the infinite beauty around me. I’ve always needed to see, feel and breathe in everything in sight, which keeps me moving at a rather slow pace.”

She never thought about writing or illustrating Childrens Books while growing up. It was after she had a family that she discovered this world of immense creative possibility.

She literally read thousands of books to her children and was convinced that she wanted to express herself through this medium. Having majored in Painting in college, it was a natural progression for her to tie the two life experiences together. She says, “As a mom, I had endless inspiration and insight into the world of children. In many ways I’ve never lost the emotional ties to my own childhood and still feel very connected to that spirit.”

Working as a full time author / illustrator just reinforces her conviction that you can achieve any goal that you have, “even though you may get distracted along the way!”

Here is Nancy and discussing her procees:

1. Here I’ve created a sketch of the opening scene from the story. In the composition, I’ve allowed enough space for text to be placed in the left hand side of the page to the right of the tree with the squirrel in it. The swirls will be eventually be eliminated. They serve as my reminder to keep energy alive at the onset of the project.

2. The pencil sketch is transferred onto Arches 140lb hot press paper using a light box. Here I am beginning to block in some underlying color with soft body acrylics. Using red the complementary to green, I roughly block in the space that will be variations in green then begin to highlight the sunlight that is pouring in through the park.

3. The initial green grass is laid in and I try not to concentrate on any particular area for too long moving all around the canvas until there is color on everything. All the while my mind is processing the time of year, the way the light would be entering the scene with many, many changes rapidly taking