Jackie is a freelance wildlife artist addicted to reading. She “consumes” about 200 books a year, reading nearly anything except horror & true crime, or anything the least bit scary which might alarm her wimp sensibilities. Historical fiction is her preferred genre, but she notices a disturbing tendency to dip into chick lit & Nora Roberts when she’s feeling gloomy. She’s obsessed with Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda in any medium. But Nevada Barr, Cecelia Holland, Elizabeth Chadwick, Dostoyevsky, Barbara Tuchman, R.F. Delderfield, Elizabeth George, Cousteau, Wodehouse & Wilde are on the perennial menu. She also inherited a love of poetry from her mother; especially Ranier Maria Rilke, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay & Shakespeare’s sonnets.
When she’s not clutching a book, she’s working on her wildlife paintings & drawings, which can be seen at her gallery website: http://jkhsquonk.ebsqart.com Or caring for her freshwater aquariums and adorable guinea pig, Rufus, taking boring photos with her digicam and, in nice weather, bicycling. She plays chess avidly but badly, and enjoys costume drama films & a wide variety of music.
