David Aiken grew up in a small Michigan town and moved to Chicago, where he apprenticed with one of the largest commercial art studios in the city. Eventually he opened his own studio for illustration and design. He and his wife, Zora, left Chicago for a one-year trip on a small sailboat, and the year became more than twenty years of meandering by boat, allowing both to devote time to writing and painting. David sold paintings through galleries and private showings at yacht clubs and resort hotels, while continuing to do editorial illustration and commercial projects. Aiken is an artist member of the American Society of Marine Artists and has coauthored and illustrated cruising and camping books with his wife. He is the author of Fiberglass Repair and the illustrator of Chesapeake ABC, Chesapeake 1-2-3, Chesapeake Rainbow, Finding Birds in the Chesapeake Marsh, Majesty from Assateague, Quiet Please—Eaglets Growing, and Where Did All the Water Go?