2 grown men stood, surrounded by art supplies, planning out a coloring book. The black line drawings were spread      out on the drafting table so that they could put them in order and suddenly I realized SOME GROWN-UP DRAW FOR THEIR JOB! That was the moment that I knew I wanted to earn a living by sharing my images with other people.       Over 30 years later, that dream is still as strong.

I got older and taller, went off to University and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University in 1987.  While I was there, I met a handsome man who became my husband, Nicholas Smith, and we eventually settled in Moncton, New Brunswick. It wasn’t a city that had a lot of jobs for artists, but I kept drawing while I looked for other jobs.  I worked in radio as a copywriter and voice talent, I taught art at an after school program, I worked for a local ad agency as an Art Director and learned how to do graphic design on Mac computers, all the while drawing and selling things here or there.  I even incorporated my own company called DRAGON DREAMS in case I wanted to self-publish my artwork someday.  Little did I know then that in 2008, Dragon Dreams would expand to include publishing books!

In 1992, a very good friend of ours pestered my husband and I to try cross stitch. Soon, I got totally hooked on making pictures with little Xs of colour and sparkly threads but couldn’t find a lot of dragons in cross stitch... so I started designing my own!  For almost 20 years, I have been self-publishing and selling needlework patterns to needlework stores all over the world. 

When my two daughters were born, it sometimes meant grabbing computer time when they napped or staying up really late at night, but I was able to mix the cross stitch designing with other freelance work (graphic design, advertorial writing, translation, editing, voice work and public speaking... whatever it took) to stay home with Erin and Bethany while they were small.  It’s amazing how your imagination works when you are short on sleep! 

My husband has grown in his teaching career as well working as a classroom teacher, a computer mentor to other teachers, a vice-principal at two different schools and finally becoming a principal of his own school in the fall of 2006.

Whether I am working on a cross stitch design, illustrating a children’s book, substitute teaching, running a summer camp or thinking up stories of my own, I try to focus on hope, wonder and possibilities in our shadowed world. As one of my favourite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, wrote in her book Walking on Water...

"The artist, if he is not to forget how to listen, must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and unicorns, and all the lovely creatures which our world would put in a box marked Children Only ."

May you have fun using your own imagination!

Jennifer Aikman-Smith

©Dragon Dreams 2012. All Rights Reserved

This site created and maintained by the Dragon Lady herself- Jennifer Aikman-Smith.

For those who like more detail...

As soon as I figured out at 3 that crayons didn’t taste very good, I have been making pictures. I drew lots and lots of pictures of castles, princesses and dragons while I was growing up. My Mom still has some tucked away.

I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to a family that loved to read stories and do all kinds of crafts.  When my Mom would read books out loud, I would bring in my drawing stuff and try to imagine what the characters looked like.

When I was 11, I won a contest through Jack and Jill magazine for young artists and writers, sponsored by its publisher, The Saturday Evening Post. I got to go to Indianapolis, Indiana for 4 days and that’s when it happened...  we walked   into one of the studios where