About The Author
Everything great that has ever come into Suzanne Elizabeth Murphy's life has been a result of taking a risk or some giant leap of faith into the new and unknown. And so, after decades of portrait commissions and painting for exhibitions, she circles back to a story that began forty years ago when she climbed into a wetsuit, big fins, mask, heavy air tank, weight belt, breathing tube, and regulator to begin her training as a scuba diver in a cold New Jersey lake. She was fearful, clumsy, and not herself. Suzanne had to learn how to make it all part of herself. After all, she was becoming a fish!
Had Suzanne not faced her fear of scuba diving, she would not have discovered the beauty and mystery of the coral reefs. She would not have those images and feelings of that world forty, fifty, or even sixty feet down that prompted her to write and illustrate a children's book about it almost forty years later. And she would not be holding her published book, "Mirabelle and the Sea Green Bathtub: Journey to the Coral Reef." The little girl in this story must also take a risk before she can fulfill her heart's desire to swim with the fishes. Her curiosity and trust overcome any fear, and she sets out on her life-changing adventure with a new friend who helps her discover not only his water world but also her personal power and courage. For the last three years, Suzanne's journey has been Mirabelle's—her adventure, wonder, sadness, and trust. Trust in herself and the difference she might make for the fragile coral reefs in Florida and around the world.
Suzanne Elizabeth Murphy is an artist, author, and educator. After a decade in New York City and another decade building and living in a straw-bale house in Colorado, where she first began to paint on canvas, she moved to Florida in 2008 and founded Open Sky Studio & Gallery in Tarpon Springs. Suzanne has taught painting in many venues and served for three years on the Tarpon Springs Public Art Committee. Her work is collected across the U.S.
Read more
