Hi! Welcome to Coyote Fire Illustration!

Thanks for being here…

and wanting to know more about me.

I hope I get to know more about you one day too. (Feel free to send me an email!)

Coyote Fire is my nature name, given to me by a group of 5 year olds and their parents at our Nature Camp.

I mostly go by Kati.

Names are important though, don’t you think?

They can tell us about ourselves, where we come from, and maybe even where we are going.

My full name, Kati Fernandez Lambert, means Brave Traveller of the Land Bright.

I really love that, even though I don’t see myself as very brave.

In fact, I am afraid almost all the time.

I am afraid of starting this about page so informally, and telling you things I am afraid of.

I am afraid of fish behind glass. Yup, that’s true. You won’t find me at the aquarium.

I am afraid of actions taken without love, of which there seem to be many on this less than bright land.

I am afraid of the future that’s possible if we give up hope.

I am afraid of the shark that my inner child still believes lives in the bathtub drain.

But then, I remember…

everyone brave was once afraid.

And I think well, damn, I must be super brave!

It takes a a lot to admit your afraid of things. It takes a lot to face those things and keep creating a life you love despite them.

That’s why I make, draw, paint, write and cook food every day.

At my desk, I work with gouache, watercolor, colored pencils, ink, and digital tools to create pictures that include diversity, nature, food, faith and wonder.

I can create worlds where courage and beauty live, and maybe you’ll want to meet me there for a while?

Share a cup of coffee or tea and a slice of cake, and try to be brave together.

My favorite part of the process is finding the just right characters, look, and feel of a picture to match the evolving narrative.

I love writing stories that depend on pictures and making pictures that depend on stories.

I feel strongly that our children hold our future and picture books are an important way to nurture children’s inner lives and foster their curiosity and courage for the changing world ahead of them.

Here’s the formal part:

I am currently seeking interesting projects and/or representation in children’s publishing. Please email with interest in working together.

I have an AAS from the American Academy of Art (Drawing), and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Painting, Minor: Drawing). I have take courses with Children's Book Academy and Make Art That Sells, and am a member of Julie Hedlund’s 12x12 and The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I am a trained Nature Connection Mentor and have a background in outdoor and after-school enrichment programming for young people, as well as a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am currently looking forward to beginning mentorship with Giuseppe Castellano of The Illustration Department.

Here are a few more random things about me, so we don’t end on such a formal note:

• I live on traditional Ho-Chunk territory, now called Madison, Wisconsin and recognize that the land that sustains me is that of the Ho-Chunk people. I live on a kettle pond that was formed by a passing iceberg long long ago, with my husband, three children, and one mischievous cat. We fall asleep to the sound of Peepers in the Spring.

• I am a nature nerd. I will interrupt a conversation to acknowledge a bird. I can recognize plants I love from a car driving at 55 miles an hour, sometimes 60.

• I have emergency supplies of cookies, coffee, 3B pencils, and books hidden in my house for rainy days (or the rare instance I run out of any of the above).

• I love a freshly baked loaf of challah in the candlelight, arugula, rutabagas, coffee, cookies (any kind), books, and more books especially while eating cookies. I love bathtime (minus the drain shark), my garden, and all of nature. I love interfaith discussion and learning about all kinds of world faiths. I love celebrations, especially making cakes (and cookies), playing party games, giving out prizes, signing songs and being merry!

• Some things I don’t love include plastic and how hard it is to exist in this world without using it. Smells that are unnatural (dryer sheets, detergent, air fresheners, perfumes and colognes). Scent pollution is really a thing!

My genuine gratitude goes out to you, for being here with me, for being curious about art and an artist making things.

To learn even more about me and my creative process, visit and subscribe to my newsletter, The Tinder Bundle.

I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you!