Welcome! My name is Belen Strangio, and I am the artist/author of my upcoming self-published children’s book, Beatrice & Bob, and the artist behind Lemony Lavender Creative. As long as I can remember, art has been a huge presence in my life. Surrounded by artists in my family, my mother and grandfather, I had constant exposure and lessons in drawing and painting. I always had a love for imaginary stories and interesting characters, and a huge passion for animation. I admired many artists from Gil Elvgren to Norman Rockwell, but it was watching the old Disney and Warner Brother classics that inspired me to pursue a career in animation.

In 2010, I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Arts & Animation from The Art Institute of California-San Francisco. After that, I continued my studies in character animation for film and graduated from Animation Mentor in 2012. Soon after, I was accepted into the Pixar Animation Internship, where I was later hired full time. I worked on films such as Monster’s University, Inside Out, and Coco, just to name a few.

In 2017, my husband, Matt, and I welcomed our first baby girl, Sophia, and that’s when I decided to become a stay-at-home-mom. In 2019 we welcomed our second daughter, Celia. Then, in 2020, my family and I decided to make a big change, and moved from the Bay Area in California to Haymarket, Virginia where we’ve been happily raising our two girls and two Boston Terriers. It was in these recent years of playing, reading, and painting with my girls where I rekindled my love for traditional painting and illustration. My girls reminded me that my passion for storytelling and imaginary characters still holds strong. So now, building on everything I’ve learned working in animation and film, my goal is to create stories full of wonder, fun, and imagination for kids and parents to enjoy!

There is no place more adventurous than the imaginary heart and mind of a child, young and old.