Lori Chenault

I've grown up with a deep love of and respect for whales. It all started with the kid's movie Dot and the Whale (Gross 1986), where the live action footage fascinated me. I watched that movie so much I wore it out and had to get a new copy. I also read two books which were highly influential: Humphrey the Lost Whale (Takuda and Hall 1986) and The Good Night Sleep Tight Book (Vasiliu 1973). All of these helped me to imagine, day after day and night after night, a world where a midwest girl got to meet a whale.

When I went to college, I spent one year in Wisconsin before heading out to Hawaii to finish my education. I began as a Marine Biology major, but crippling motion sickness forced me to change my major. However, I still spent all of my spare time at or in the ocean, and I always looked to the horizon for the tell tale spouts. I have been on dozens of whale watching trips, and I will always opt to go on one if there's an opportunity to do so, especially in a small and eco friendly tour with a local naturalist and guide.

Most recently, for my 40th birthday, I spent a week in California Baja Sur in Magdalena Bay camping on the beach and spending 5 days on the ocean, getting up close and personal with Gray Whales. I've never been much of an artist, but I enjoy making colors on pages, and thought I'd try out illustrating more realistic whales before moving on to the whimsical images swirling in my head from the books and movies I saw as a little girl.