Being in the right place at the right time is often a key to success, said no less a leading light than Abraham Lincoln, the 12th president of the U.S. For Kelly Sexton, that right time and place was Bethel’s Molten Java café, where she worked as a barista.
The Greenwood Avenue coffeehouse was where Sexton, an aspiring artist and illustrator, also met Bethel native Carol Gibson, who asked Sexton about a painting hanging on the café’s wall that depicted the exterior of the café. It was Sexton’s – and this impromptu meeting led to a lasting friendship and, for Sexton, a contract to illustrate children’s books.
Almost immediately, Gibson connected Sexton with Jeanne Rogers, the author of a series of children’s books and a former Danbury resident who now lives in Florida. Gibson loved the distinct, evocative style of the Molten Java painting, and thought that style would be perfect for Rogers’s works. Rogers agreed, leading to a contract for Sexton to illustrate “My Grandma Lives in Florida,” which was published in January.
But first, let’s back up a few years to how Sexton first began to paint – and what first drew her to Molten Java. Sexton has had no professional training in art but took up sketching, drawing, and painting during the COVID shutdown. Canadian by birth, she met her husband, area native Lloyd Sexton, online during the mid-1990s and moved to Connecticut.
“During COVID, I had taken up a hobby of acrylic mandala painting,” said Sexton, who also works as a customer service and sales agent for Watertown-based Shelter Logic. “Then, all of my mandala work was stolen, including some very personal and special pieces as well as pieces I had painted for sale at a market to make money for my family.
“I posted a video on Facebook about this, which many people saw – including Marissa at Molten Java,” she continued. “Not long after that, I walked in to get a coffee and she remembered me. Marissa offered me a job. This is how I began working there and why I stay on staff. I believe places like this need to exist in 50 years. They are dying. My being here is more than giving back: Places like Molten do not get the attention they deserve.”
Sexton said she first became aware of her artistic talent following an ADHD diagnosis at age 44. “I did not know I could draw like this until about three years ago - that is why this story is so wild!” she said. ”I started the dot mandala work to help myself feel better during the pandemic as well as some family crises. Then, I began working at Molten Java and Carol saw my painting in its art show.”
Dot mandala art is a painting technique derived from ancient Sanskrit meditative practices. In it, the artist uses hundreds or even thousands of perfectly placed paint dots to create a work encompassing intricate, symmetrical patterns.
Sexton and Gibson became fast friends and now meet once every Thursday morning at Molten Java to draw. “She was an integral part of helping me with the book process,” Sexton said. “Now, I can't imagine my life without her in it.”
Rogers recalled she was working on “My Grandma Lives in Florida” with her daughter, Katharine Rogers. It is her sixth book. However, they had yet to hire an illustrator when Gibson contacted her about meeting Sexton.
“She said Kelly was a very talented person whose work would be perfect for my books,” said Rogers, who had lived in Danbury and Bethel before moving to Florida.
Rogers drew inspiration from her recent retirement to the burgeoning retirement community, The Villages, in North-Central Florida.
“Writing was always a hobby, but it wasn’t my life’s work before I retired,” Rogers noted. “My husband and I both worked at Boehringer Ingelheim; he as a bench scientist and me in the patents department. I filed international and domestic patents for the company. After we retired, I began to think, maybe I have something more to give.”
The flora and fauna of Australia inspired her first books. The unusual animal life on that continent, as well as the challenges their continued existence faced, struck Rogers immediately. So, she set out to write books that acquainted young readers with the need to protect the environment.
In Rogers’s children’s stories, the heroes are anthropomorphic animals. In her first book, “The Sword of Demelza,” Rogers introduced middle-school-aged readers to endangered down-under creatures, including kowaries, which are small, insect-eating marsupials; bilbies, burrowing animals with rabbit-like ears; and the furry wombat, the koala’s closest relative.
“It became a passion of mine to get kids to read more, particularly kids who are reluctant readers, and to learn more about wildlife in the process,” said Rogers. “The books teach kids to appreciate endangered wildlife and to be good environmental stewards.”
“The Gift of Sunderland,” “Dressing for Dreamtime,” and “One Hot Mess: A Child’s Environmental Fable” followed in this vein. The premise of “One Hot Mess” is both entertaining and educational in illustrating how a young kangaroo mobilizes his peers (and the grown-up kangaroos as well) to fight a toxic dump poisoning their habitat.
“Kohana: A Native American Creation Myth” was Rogers' first foray into North American storytelling. It told the story of how the wolf transitioned into the dog through the eyes of a wolf puppy.
“My Grandma Lives in Florida” brought readers to contemporary America and was the first mother-daughter collaboration.
“It’s a story to which so many people can relate, and it also introduces young children to a place that’s both a popular draw for visitors and the home of some pretty unusual wildlife,” said Rogers. “Like all the other books I’ve written, there is a glossary that kids can use to identify the critters depicted in the story, and on their own trips when they visit their own grandparents there.”
This book, just published in March, proved to be the perfect setting for Sexton’s artistic style. She noted that the illustrations are all hand-drawn. In the publishing world, that might once have been a thing taken for granted, but in these days of Photoshop and AI, it is less common.
“Before I worked with Jeanne, I knew nothing about publishing and book design, but I’ve picked that up and it’s not anything to be afraid of!” Sexton said. “The book received a Literary Titan Gold Book Award, both for its hand-drawn artwork and storytelling.”
The publication of “My Grandma” soon led to Rogers and Sexton collaborating on an additional book, which will be a companion to the Grandma book. It will be entitled “My Grandpa Lives in Florida.” They expect the next book to be published by the end of 2026.
This spring brought more good news for Sexton: a contract to illustrate a work by a second author, Kim Nelson. It, too, will be a children’s book, entitled “I Am Not a Bunny.”
To purchase the book please use this link.
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