Julia Denos’s career in illustration and design has been a celebration of color in her favorite medium, wild watercolor. She has been a designer and illustrator for a decade, bringing to life the writing of authors as diverse as country star Tim McGraw and biographer Margaret Cardillo. Always a secret writer, Denos illustrated her own picture book debut, Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color. In this exuberantly colored and whimsical book, Swatch, the young color tamer, wants to collect all of the colors that run free. The book was named an ALA Notable Book. Denos has also provided artwork for Grandma’s Gloves by Cecil Castellucci (2010), I Had Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn (2011), Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo (2011), and Dotty by Erica S. Perl (2010). She illustrated the covers of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series, as well as a number of other middle-grade titles. Denos’s most recent illustration project is Just Being Jackie by Margaret Cardillo. Her latest writing project is the picture book Windows, illustrated by her friend and colleague E. B. Goodale.