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About
Ellen Byrne
A
long time ago in a galaxy far away, my third grade
teacher, Miss Kokamei, told me I had a great imagination.
She encouraged me to draw and paint but said it was
my imagination that set me apart. |
Manoa
Valley Elementary School, Honolulu, Hawaii
I took Miss Kokamei's advice to draw and paint,
took art classes, learned art techniques from my
Grandfather, grew up, married, raised four terrific
kids, moved frequently to lots of interesting places,
had odd jobs, took more art classess, and finally
settled in the cool little city of Frederick, Maryland,
a place full of fabulous graphic design and marketing
firms as well as a rich fine arts community.
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With
one of my paintings in Highschool. |
With
my
husband and children mid 1980's
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My first ADDY - it's a GOLD!
American
Advertising Awards:
2010
NATIONAL GOLD ADDY
2010 Division 2 Silver ADDY
2010
Gold ADDY for Illustration
2008 Silver ADDY for Illustration
2007 Judge's Choice Award
2007 Gold ADDY for Illustration
2006 Two Silver ADDYs for Illustration
2005 Gold ADDY for Illustration
2004 Gold ADDY for Illustration
Illustration chosen for inclusion in 2004 American
Graphics Design Awards.
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In 2002 I started doing what I always wanted to do with my art, which was to
illustrate - tell stories with pictures.
I
feel like the luckiest person in the world, I
have a super family, live in a dream city with
grandchildren within
walking distance, and my job is my dream job.
As
an adult, I've wondered if Manoa Valley was really
as magical as I remembered or a product of my
imagination. Not long ago my husband and I visited
and found
that my family had lived in a rain forest, my brothers and I had walked to
school in bare feet, there was a waterfall at
one end of our street/trail and author
Robert Louis Stevenson's hidewaway "Little Grass House" was at the
other, there were flowers that bloomed only at night, the mountains did rise
straight up from the backyard of our house, and, best of all, a rainbow did
appear every day over the valley.
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