Look and Listen

Biography

Elizabeth considers herself extremely lucky to have grown up in a family where the children were not allowed to watch much TV. Instead, she spent endless happy hours coloring, making paper dolls, drawing comic books and wishing for super powers. Elizabeth taught high school art while raising her sons as a single mother. The More to Love characters began appearing in her sketchbooks shortly after a beloved student died from complications related to anorexia. Elizabeth intends her work to be a positive, light-hearted message to anyone dealing with the difficult issues of negative body image and self-esteem. Originally from New Hampshire, Elizabeth currently lives in a 1906 farmhouse in NY State. When she is not drawing, painting or writing, Elizabeth can often be found chasing animals out of her flowerbeds.

Inspiration

According to recent statistics, 62% of American women are "not skinny"... And almost all of us have either tried to lose weight, are currently trying to lose weight, or struggle with issues of self-esteem related to body image/body size. And yet, there are still very few positive images in popular culture of average and plus-size women. Shortly after one of my high school art students died from anorexia, characters began appearing in in my sketchbooks: happy, funny, sassy, sexy full-figured gals going through life at full force! Captions, poems, and little stories popped into my mind and begged to be illustrated. Drawing, coloring and writing became my way of coping with the senseless loss of my student, and, surprisingly, acted as a healing for my own issues with body image, eating disorders and self-esteem. There are many great books that deal with these issues from an informational or therapeutic standpoint, as well as memoirs, novels, and workbooks. More to Love does not take their place. Instead it is designed to be a quick pick me up: short, happy bites of positive imagery and writings, a little "chocolate chip cookie for your soul" for those moments when you need a reminder of how wonderful you truly are. Visit my home page for free More to Love goodies! http://elizabethpatch.com Read my sketchbook blog: my year of illustrating More to Love, and new writings, sketches, doodles every week as I work on the next book. http://moretolovesketchbook.blogspot.com/ Preview the entire book http://moretolove.net/