Dinah Cross James graduated from Mills College (Oakland, California) and went on to be a fashion illustrator for publications like Readers Digest, Sunset Magazine and a handful of Childrens books. In 1990 Dinah suffered a loss of her only child to a fire. Following the loss of her daughter, James began painting her birds series filled with a pallet of youthful pinks, greens and turqouise hues. Dinah now resides in Napa Valley, California and has had her art showing at Zantman Gallery (Carmel), “Off the Wall” Gallery (Houston) and Horizon Fine Arts (Jackson Hole).