Kelly Thorndike was born and raised in Midcoast Maine. A self-educated artist and illustrator, he is a student of Winslow Homer, N. C. Wyeth, Frank Benson, and Louise Nevelson. He is a combat-wounded Iraq war veteran and a recipient of the Purple Heart. This is his first professional project since returning from Iraq in 2004, where he suffered brain injury. He credits the kindness and patience of close friends and family and the very professional, often youthful, team of caregivers at Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta, Maine, for making it possible for him to be creative again. The artist and illustrator met author Tom Hanrahan at Spencer Pond Camps, a sporting camp in the Big Woods. Both share a love of the outdoors.