One of five daughters, Rachel grew up in Sydney in a little weatherboard house with a rambling garden, home also to dogs, cats, turtles and silkworms, where she spent much of her time drawing, climbing trees or performing self-devised plays for the lucky ones that happened to be around to watch. Rachel eventually became an actor, singer, drama teacher, photographer, wildlife rescuer and mother. Her illustrations are inspired by wild places and animals of every kind and are created with watercolour, gouache, pencil, pen and occasionally digital collage. Rachel was the recipient of the 2019 Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship awarded by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. Her recent picture book is Moon Sailors written by Naomi Woodward, published by Ford St. Rachel now resides in yet another little weatherboard house, with her human and non-human family, under the vast skies of the Southern Highlands, NSW, acknowledging that she is on irreplaceable Gundungurra land.
