I was born in the year of the Boar, in Picton, Ontario, before it was fashionable to be there. My Mother was a concert pianist and my Father owned his own company. I have two older brothers who are both mechanical technologists but I studied music as a child, along with dance, and art later combining my passions studying animation.

I was accepted at Sheridan College at the age of 17 after having submitted my portfolio. Before I was graduated, I was hired by Hanna Barbara to work on the Scooby Doo series in Canada at a satellite company called Canimage. Later I moved to B.C. to work on some government-funded films and to check out the area in the context of the Animation Industry. Upon my return to Toronto, I was hired to work on a Johnny Hart Christmas Special at Cinera Studios. I elected to stay in Toronto rather than follow the animation teams to Ottawa. I loitered around Toronto for a while, working on some commercials not only in animation, but also in live action.

It was at this time that I met my husband- to- be and we started performing music together.Our part time careers seemed to take over our lives for about ten years during which time we moved to Prince Edward County. My husband, John Kitchen, is a fourth degree Black Belt in Ju-Jitsu and I'm a second degree black belt. Our Sensie was Frank Hatashita.

After our move, we taught traditional martial arts during the evening, played in our band on weekends, and generally freelanced during the day. I am now a second degree Black Belt, and we are still teaching and occasionally performing.

I later decided to get back into feature Animation. After updating my portfolio, I searched for and eventually landed a job with Creative Capers through a Canadian based company called Yowza. I worked on numerous CD Disney ROM's such as Hercules, Little Mermaid, Lion King and a few Pilots. The studio then landed a contract with Warner Bros' Quest for Camelot, then Fox for Bartok (a spin off Disney's Anastasia), and after that it was, again, Fox, working on Titans AE.

It was during my freelance period that we had our little girl, "Roanna Lee", now 7 years old. We were, and still are, very happy and truly blessed. My freelance work couldn't be more perfect as I can spend time home with her. Roanna often accompanies me to the Toronto studio to drop off scenes. She has also been attending martial arts classes since conception. Roanna decided to get involved with acting. She currently has 3 international commercials.

The last feature project I worked on through Yowza Studios was, again, with Warner Brothers. It was Osmosis Jones with Bill Murray, released in August 2001. The business has slowed down somewhat since, so I decided to study Multi Media. I have exceeded the budget on a great home system with many programs and abilities. I am learning how to combine classical animation training with computer animation as well as web based animation. It has proven to be a tough transition, but I've heard that transitions generally are.

I now have my own business called ART257. I also have my studio located at Picton United Church. I got asked to "fill-in" about 3 years ago and I'm still there part time. Please feel free to contact me for art, animation, or advertising design at pennykitchen@gmail.com to view gallery index, home