Jamie Ruthenberg is a Detroit-born author and artist. Most currently, she is the featured artist for The Four Seasons Card Collection by American Robin.

Self taught in the visual arts, Jamie’s first memories as a young child are of her sitting and sketching.

“Rainy days in Michigan can sometimes be long and drizzly, which I personally love. For me, they bring great memories,” Jamie explains. “When I was a young child, growing up in Detroit on those wonderful rainy days, some kids might have played with their blocks or watched movies. I would sit and sketch for hours. It’s what I naturally wanted to do.”

As she grew into adulthood and became more involved in creative writing, she also started experimenting with different paint media and eventually fell in love with the flow and softness of watercolor, which makes it fitting that the artwork she created for The Four Seasons Card Collection was created with pencil and watercolor paint.

“For each of the four cards, I wanted to capture a single, significant moment,” Jamie explains. “For example, in the spring piece, I wanted to represent the very second a new life makes its way into this world,” adding, “I especially love the moment captured in the winter painting, as the robin readies herself for the first note that will be sung at a snowy sunrise.”

Among some of her other works, Jamie is also both the author and illustrator of the Miles Educational Series, a heartwarming children’s book series that includes Miles and the Sneaky Squirrels, Miles and the Wren House Toad, and Miles and the Best Birthday Gift. The fourth book in the series, Miles and the Friend In Need, will be available in June of 2018.

Additionally, she is the illustrator of the Pincy’s Auto Show Adventures Series supported by the North American International Auto Show and PNC. The series is a not-for-profit collaborative effort to help preschool children succeed in school and in life. Likewise, Jamie is also the illustrator of the book The Tale of the Beautiful Cat, written by the late Ruth Cain, a true advocate of childhood literacy; all proceeds from sales of the book go to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.

In addition to her career as an author and artist, Jamie is also a seasoned writer in many different genres as owner of J. Ruthenberg & Co. Writing Services, Inc., a professional business writing, ghost writing, editing and review company. The company has quickly grown to include various forms of outsourced artwork and illustration work, which are now a significant aspect of the company.

Her educational past includes two Bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s of Art Degree, with majors centering on English, creative writing, English composition, and education. Although never officially schooled in art, she continued to practice and explore her love of drawing and painting while attaining her degrees. As a result, she has taught the beauty of both the writing and art process to a wide range of students, from graduate students to kindergarteners, and has published various works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, illustrative work, and visual art.

Today, Jamie lives and works out of her home studio in Clarkston, Michigan with her daughter, Grace, and their two cats, Oz and Ella.

For more information about Jamie Ruthenberg, or to purchased her books and artwork, please go to JamieRuthenberg.com.