Rockland native Betsy Franco Feeney, is inspired each day by the beauty of her hometown, Piermont. She's travelled the world but has never thought to make her home base anywhere else.Her training includes classes at School of Visual Arts and an AA degree at Fashion Institute of Technology, where she was awarded the highest honor in Illustration. Later on, she added computer graphics to her skill set. And what started as an obsession to photograph her daughter's every performance, quickly morphed into a second carreer in photography. along with her paints and brushes, Betsy uses a Canon 5D Mark II along with a Wacom Cintiq Tablet and Photoshop."Some things you might like to know about me... I love singing show-tunes, drinking iced mochas, riding bikes and cross-country skiing. I'm a history buff and a perfectionist with a messy desk. Overly empathetic, I try not to freak out about global warming."Betsy's just as passionate about creating children's books as she is about taking photos. "I am most proud of my collaborations with award-winning singer/songwriter Christine Lavin. When illustrating her imaginative songs, our goal has been to encourage children to explore nature. Amoeba Hop garnered a "Best Books" award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Hole in the Bottom of the Sea earned an awesome Kirkus review: "If the fate of the planet is in the hands of our children, reading them books like this one might be a wise idea".Betsy's latest book is also science-based and the timing could not be better. While we are all affected by an unseen virus, Jewels of the Sea...The Hunt for Floating Treasure introduces children to the breathtaking and extremely important microscopic plant-like organism, the diatom. As tiny as they are mighty, diatoms make life on earth possible!