Keiko Tanabe

Artist's description from her homepage (visit the page for awesome tutorials!):
"Keiko Tanabe is an award-winning watercolor artist. Her paintings have been juried into many exhibitions across North America and in Asia. Her work has been purchased by private collectors from all around the world.

Keiko was born in Kyoto, Japan. As a child growing up in an art-loving family, she always enjoyed drawing and painting and won many awards in children's art contests. However, art was not her chosen field of study later on. She earned a B.A. in intercultural communication (International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan) and an M.A. in international education (UCLA, California). She then worked in international relations positions in a Japanese government trade organization in Tokyo, at a large law firm in San Francisco and at a private consulting firm in San Diego. In the last 25 years, she has traveled extensively, mainly in European countries, Asia and North America."