About the Artist

I grew up in Southern California where my design aesthetic was heavily influenced by the 1970's beach culture, vintage Hollywood, and Disneyland; all just a few minutes from my front door. After high school I grabbed my surfboard and journeyed across the Pacific to attend art school at the University of Hawaii, Manoa where I studied Studio Art and Communication. 

After college I left paradise and moved back to sunny Southern California to pursue a career in commercial art. Over the years I’ve lived and worked in many amazing cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Honolulu.

My list of professional accomplishments include:

- Decorating Supervisor for The Phoenix Decorating Company, where I supervised the decoration of award-winning floats for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

- Advertising Catalog Designer/Illustrator/Copywriter for S.E.Rykoff & Co., where I designed. illustrated and wrote copy for catalogs, sales materials, corporate and customer news letters and packaging for gourmet foods and cookware.

- Art Director for Finger Prints of California, where I supervised a staff of 12 artists in the development and promotion of proprietary stationery, gift lines and licensed programs including: Disney Consumer Products, Disney Parks and Resorts, Universal Studios Theme  Parks, Six Flags Theme Parks, The Kentucky Derby, Beatrix Potter, Fido Dido, the NBA, NFL and MLB Licensing Groups, Super Bowl XXX and the XXV Summer Olympics (Barcelona).

- Creative Director of Licensing for Suzy's Zoo, where I developed and directed three art based licensing programs. The highly successful  brands; Little Suzy's Zoo, Adventures in Duckport (collaboratively produced with B.B.C. America and Moon Mesa Media), and Wags and Whiskers (collaboratively produced for Petco). I directed the creative portion of Little Suzy’s Zoo private label diaper program Dri-Bottoms for Walmart. In conjunction with developing four annual programs for our licensees, I directed over 80 International licensees/manufacturers in their product development and promotion of Suzy's Zoo licensed products. I also art directed many of Suzy's Zoo retail product lines and consumer catalogs. I worked on-site in the Suzy’s Zoo Studio and off-site throughout China and Mexico during the development and quality control of multiple large projects.

- Licensing Product Development and Designer at JPI Pets (a division of Jakks Pacific Co.), where I developed proprietary and licensed products, packaging and P.O.P. for the pet industry. Licensing partners included Disney Pets, Disney Pooh, MGA Entertainment/BRATZ, Barbie, Scooby Doo, The Meow Mix Co., American Kennel club, The Cat Fancier’s Association and the Target Boots and Barkley brand. I developed these on site in the Jacks Pacific Studio and off-site at our manufacturers throughout China.

- Design Director at Rebel Entertainment Arts and Licensing (R.E.A.L.). At R.E.A.L. I developed non-violent children’s publishing programs and their accompanying licensing programs. Collaborations included work with Moon Mesa Media and B.B.C. America. Along with developing book projects, I also designed and illustrated books for the R.E.A.L. brand including The Children’s Alopecia Project endorsed book Alexandria’s Great Hair Day.

The Lake House Studio

I opened The Lake House Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2011. In June 2022 I relocated my studio to the Russian River artist’s community of Guerneville, California in the beautiful Sonoma Wine Country. At the studio I specialize in what I love to do; design and illustration. I have developed two proprietary giftware brands for The Lake House Studio, Walkenshaw & England, Co., Outfitters of Paper Curiosities and Assorted Oddities and The Lake House Attic; both focusing on art prints, fabric, and paper stationery. While establishing my studio I worked as a designer for October Afternoon. Along with my Lake House Studio projects I am a contributing Designer and Illustrator for Carta Bella Paper Company, developing over 85 paper collections and stationery.

I continue to accept exciting freelance design and illustration commissions and look forward to new projects where I can provide my creative services. Please contact me for inquiry via email at MSPDesigner@Outlook.com, or by phone at 612-594-6797.

Clients

Disney Consumer Products, Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney Standard Characters, Disney Babies, Mickey’s World, Disney’s Pooh, HBO, The Goodman Albert Stage, Williams-Sonoma Publishing, Nordstrom Men’s Style, Scholastic Books, Inc., Lyrick Studios, Applause Plush, MGA Entertainment/ BRATZ, Beatrix Potter, The Meow Mix Company, The Cat Fanciers’ Association, Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes, Universal Studios Parks, Target, Walmart, Petco, along with some of the most exciting paper, fabric and stationery brands in the industry including October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Modify Ink and Echo Park Paper Co./Carta Bella Paper Co..