I have been drawing and painting since I could hold a brush. I have also been surrounded by children. Growing up in a family of 7, I developed a passion for teaching early in my life. In college, after a brief hiatus as an art major, I began to pursue a degree in Christian Service. Art simply became the means by which I could express myself. In graduate school I received a Master’s of Arts in Teaching in hopes to become an art teacher and help others to express themselves through art. I began to do commissions for friends and family to help supplement my family’s income. 

While working at Liberty University as an academic advisor for their online students, I connected with a remarkable woman named Shirley Jones. She had recently been through a tragic accident and found herself homeless. This once highly successful woman had found herself destitute, yet she still seemed to find the faith, hope and love to help others in a similar situation. At the time, she started a small non-profit foundation to raise awareness of the homeless situation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Shirley is a writer and she started talking to me about making a coloring book and prayed the Lord would send her help to accomplish it. I felt instantly in my heart that this person was me. I illustrated her coloring book and that lit a fire in my heart to use illustration to serve and love my community. 

From that moment many doors have opened for me to assist people in developing their stories into fully illustrated and self-published books. I quickly became a consultant in the self-publishing process and found myself wanting to assist other authors in creating their books. This work revealed itself to be the purpose I was seeking. Through books we can inspire, make aware, educate, and positively impact the hurting communities around us. Communities starving for love and acceptance. Communities thirsty for real, unchanging truth and beauty in a cold and dark world. Out of this darkness has grown many seedlings of hope, my contribution being Dowell House Publishing: Planting Seeds of Truth.