About the Artists
Carol Mathis
Award-winning Artist, Columnist, Friend
Carol Mathis
During her lifetime Carol Mathis lived in three California towns rich in historical lore — Nevada City, Coloma, and Placerville. Carol was a highly respected artist who enjoyed doing oil paintings and was well known for her historical drawings of the surrounding gold country area. Carol was also an accomplished writer, her articles often appearing in the Mountain Democrat newspaper and Around Here magazine.
Mathis chose to do oil painting illustrations for the first four picture books by Barsotti. The poetry book, the fifth one, is a collection of bright watercolor illustrations. Children love Carol’s illustrations and are fortunate to be able to see them again in Andrew and Nana on Safari, a revised edition of Christopher and Grandma on Safari.
Alpen Kelley
Award-winning Canadian Artist, Photographer, Teacher, Cousin
Alpen Kelly
Alpen Kelley lives on Hornby Island, Canada, and in San Miguel Allende, Mexico, with her husband Dean and their two Jack Russell Terriers. She was the artist/photographer on expeditions in Nepal, Argentina, Ecuador, and Baffin Island and is an accomplished kayaker, climber, and QEMTW.
Kelley’s paintings appear in collections in Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, USA, England, France, and Norway. She is a world traveler and speaks fluent English, French, and Spanish.
Okei-san: The Girl from Wakamatsu is Kelley’s first children’s book. It is for older students. She chose to do the illustrations as drawings, using black with touches of red.
In 2005 Barsotti and Kelley traveled to Japan with People To People International and visited Aizu-Wakamatsu, the city where Okei lived. Research by the author, Barsotti, and artist, Kelley, includes information collected from local families and historians, and also from friends in Japan.