Maria MonroeMaria Monroe is a mixed-media designer and artist whose inspiration comes from the wildlife around her home in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. In addition she works with light-painting techniques using coloured lights and a long exposure. She has sed this to create some of the haunting images in IN BLOOM. Maria grew up in East Anglia and has been a keen photographer all her life and is currently taking an Open University course in conjunction with the Royal Photographic Society. As well as this, she is writing a telenovela through NaNoWriMo. She also designs crochet blankets and knitwear. Maria is bipolar, and finds the visual arts are a powerful therapeutic tool for understanding her moods. Maria lives in Suffolk with two house-rabbits, a horse and a rescue dog. When not smothering them with kisses, or pursuing her creative studies, Maria works with horses and other animals on the farms around where she lives. With only one British grandparent, she is researching her mixed heritage in the melting pot of the American colonies. Read More Read Less