Jamie Frederick follows her dream of becoming illustrator

Jamie stands at her front door next to the mosic window she designed and crafted.

The talent of Jamie Frederick, a graphic artist and children’s book illustrator, was apparent at an early age. She became  hooked on drawing at the age of eight when she receive a Mickey Mouse sketch pad from her aunt and uncle. Jamie began drawing whenever she had the chance.

Jamie used her love of drawing in the Art Club in high school. After high school, Jamie followed her dream of going to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Orange County and Los Angeles. At FIDM Jamie had the opportunity to take different classes while honing in on her art skills and earn a degree in visual arts.

Jamie thought for awhile that she would like to pursue a career in set design for New York City Broadway plays, but soon realized it was a narrow and difficult field to get into.

Jamie’s journey to becoming a published children’s book illustrator took some interesting turns. She worked at Mikasa as a merchandiser for over six years. Her co-workers knew to give Jamie, a self proclaimed recycler, any broken dishware. She is working using broken dishware for her kitchen back splash and says, “No worries if you break anything here, it will be used on my wall.”

With the help of her husband Dewayne raising their two boys, 13-year-old Blake and 10-year-old Brayden, Jamie manages to work on her art while being a busy stay at home mom.

Jamie was born and raised in Fontana, California. She’s a true California girl. She moved to Canyon Lake 12 years ago. She volunteers at Cottonwood Elementary School helping to bring art into the classroom. She likes to focus on the Masters to start. At the school she is affectionately known as the “art lady.”.

When Jamie is not volunteering at school she’s at Canyon Lake Community Church where a mixed media cross she created is in the youth room.

Jamie went back to school at California State San Bernardino where she earned a degree in art education in 2002. She would like to work as a high school art teacher when her boys are older.

In school Jamie wrote a children books in a creative writing class. Her teacher loved them and encouraged her to publish them. She is now working on illustrating the book.

Jamie works on a variety of mediums where her creative juices take her while using the tools and techniques she learned in school. Having a large arts and craft room where every nook and cranny is filled with art supplies is a bonus. She’s discovered that she enjoys working with watercolors. When asked what kind of artists she would categorizer herself as, she responds with “Most likely a cartoonist.”

A friend of Jamie’s was talking to her sister, Joy Kish, about a book Joy had written called “Leo the Extraordinarily Ordinary Lizard.” Jamie’s friend mentioned to her that her sister needed an illustrator for the book. Jamie and Joy met soon after.

The book is about Leo the Extraordinarily Ordinary Lizard and finding “your fun”. The story of appreciating who we are is created around creatures found at the Santa Rosa Plateau, a place Jamie loves too.

After reading the book Jamie began to work on the illustrations. Joy says, “This is exactly how I pictured Leo and his friends.”

The September 23 program at the Canyon Lake Library was hosted by Joy and Jamie who gave a reading of the book followed by a discussion and a craft.

Leo the Extraordinarily Ordinary Lizard was published in April. It’s sold online at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Walmart and a number of other bookstores.

Like Leo, Jamie has definitely found her “fun.” In addition to her volunteer work, Jamie started a company called Swirly Pallet. The Swirly Pallet is a mobile company that does paint parties with a theme of choice, from children’s birthday parties to ladies night out parties and adult paint and sips. To contact Jamie Frederick, call 951-751-4032.