Jennifer Polan learned to draw and paint in Connecticut from her uncle and grandfather.  She studied art at Philadelphia’s Tyler School of Art during high school and has a Bachelors of Fine Art in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design.

She works in traditional media; pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil.

Her artwork has been published in books by Macmillan and Thomas Nelson, and in Ladybug Magazine.  She is a longtime member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

She also received a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Rhode Island College and worked for fifteen years as a Registered Nurse at Rhode Island Hospital in an adult surgical/trauma/burn unit.

After leaving nursing she worked as a Zookeeper in Southwick Zoo’s Primate Department and now works as a Fine Gardener with Golden Root Gardening in South County Rhode Island.

Jennie lives in a little garden oasis in Cranston, Rhode Island with her husband and cat, creating art with plants and paints.