1. Denise Fleming
An Author Study

2. Who Is She? Denise was born in Toledo, Ohio.
She checked out three books each week from the library to read.
She spent weekends with her grandparents where she learned about flowers and the animals that lived in her grandmother’s garden.
Denise is married to David and has one daughter.
She wrote her first book when she was 41 years old.

3. What Does She Do? Denise is an author and an illustrator.
At first she illustrated other writer’s books.
Now she makes her own paper and creates her illustrations from that paper and uses them in the books she writes.

4. How Does She Create Her Work?
When Denise gets an idea to write about, she jots it down quickly so she won’t forget it. She doesn’t worry about spelling or punctuation in her first draft.
She scribbles drawings in the margins to go with the writing.
Denise starts with many, many words and rewrites until she finds just the right ones, to use in her book.
Most of her books are about nature.

5. How She Creates Her Illustrations?
Denise uses something called pulp painting to create her pictures. It’s a way to make paper.
She mixes water with cotton fibers.
Denise adds layer on top of layer to make her pictures.
She draws on the paper using colored pulp in a squeeze bottle.

6. What Tools Does She Use?
Denise uses squeeze bottles, and stencils she cuts from a type of foam.
View the video to learn more:
Read the following letter from Denise:

7. Her Work