"I am a hole in the flute which God's breath moves through... listen to this music!" - Sufi Master Hafiz

I love that quote because that is how I feel about myself and what I do. I am merely the instrument for the divine that moves through me, the tool that Spirit uses to bring forth visions into the world. That might sound strange coming from a girl who draws werewolves and tiger men, but let me explain.

I was born Christy Lee Grandjean in March 1974 to parents who were already spiritual geeks in their own right. My dad adores John Denver and the idea of that mountain man life, and my mother loves fantasy and animals, and needless to say that they both love the great outdoors. Raised on a steady diet of wilderness, fantasy, and spirituality, with many a camping trip and readings from The Lord of the Rings, I became who I am.

I am a woman born to spirituality, to the love of nature and animals, and to all the possibilities of fantasy and fancy. I always wanted to be an animal, and to roam the wilderness as a being who belonged there, the forest as much home to me as my own bedroom. I daydreamed of unicorns and dragons, gryphons and horses and heroes. I constantly lived in another world of my own making.

When I was finally in high school, I began to discover wolves. I had never thought of wolves before, because they had always been painted as "bad guys" in every movie and book I ever read. But upon picking up issues of "Southwest Art" in my art class, wolves became alive to me, and I was instantly and overwhelmingly hooked.

It should be no surprise that I had always had a fascination with shapeshifters. A person who could change into an animal at will? Count me in! I thought werewolves were the neatest thing ever since watching "American Werewolf in London" somewhere in my early teens. So when wolves finally caught my attention, I completely abandoned myself to them.

I was always a loner in my teenage years. I was just too strange, too solitary for anyone to want to be my friend, and my solitude suited me fine. No one could understand the landscapes and visions that played through my mind anyway. But art was my outlet. With my art I found I could show others my world, and amazlingly enough I was good at it! I drew unicorns and dragons pretty much primarily at first, with the occasional faerie or gryphon thrown in for good measure. But once the wolves had me, that was all I knew.

Shortly out of high school I finally made some friends and fell in with a gaming group who was playing White Wolf's "Werewolf: The Apocalypse" and it was like destiny to me. I dove head first into that world and didn't come up for air for at least a decade. Here was everything that made up my inner world. The reverence for nature, the spirituality, and the ability to shapeshift into a wolf! Even though I didn't agree with all of the premises of the game, I was still in heaven.

It was only natural that my art would morph into other shapeshifting animals and animal people in general, the majority of my current body of work. It represents who I was in my teens and twenties, what I had grown up with, what I involved myself in, and my own inner landscape.

But weird as all that is (or was), I knew that what I chose to draw did not come from me, but was rather filtered through me. Something outside of myself had something to say. So what if it came out as an athro tiger or a werewolf? That is simply how it manifested through the filter of me, and people seemed to get the message regardless.

Even so it was still surprising to me the reaction my artwork got when I finally made it online in 1999 (I had been online for a brief stint in 1996, but after a bad experience I left a few months later with only a few pieces of mine on an obscure werewolf gallery). It seemed that people could not get enough of my strange artwork, so I happily obliged and began drawing like a mad woman.

Since that year it has been an interesting progression to where I am now. Often strange, sometimes painful, other times downright embarassing, but always interesting. The one thing I have gotten out of it all, though, is the sure knowledge that I am but a tool. A very odd, interestingly-shaped tool, a hole in the flute of god where sometimes unusual notes are heard, but a good tool nontheless.

Lately my vision has shifted. The werewolves and anthro animals are beginning to take a backseat (finally) to other visions, other notes that are beginning to be heard. Perhaps purer notes now that this tool has been sharpened and cleaned up a bit. It all remains to be seen.

As for other minutae about my life, well let's see. Though I was born in California, I am a Utah native. I graduated High School, but only after I had to go back to Adult Ed and get a few more points. I was never very good at paying attention, that inner world always tugging at me :P I took a few college courses, but quickly found out that a college degree was not in the stars for me. Turns out I didn't need it anyway! So yes, I am a mainly self taught artist (does the tool need to be taught to do what it does?).

I am also an aspiring writer, though I have yet to finish anything. I do hope to do so in the next five years or so. Not sure what I am writing yet, but I know I am meant to write something. Guess we'll see what it is :)

I am single, childless (though I count my creations as children, plus my cat and dog), making a living solely off of my art, and currently residing in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Anything else you need to know can generally be answered in the FAQ!