Shirley Dutchkowski is a retired teacher of thirty years, an artist, and an amateur photographer. She started painting in 2019 and found her favorite way to relax. Living in Colorado and being an animal lover, her inspirations derive mostly from nature. It was only natural with her teaching background this would lead to illustrating children's books. She created "Sillyreads" and proceeded to write, illustrate, and publish her first children's book "Semantics Ant Playing with Language" in 2024