Mardeen Smyth Gordon was born in Los Angeles in 1962, graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and began her career in commercial signs that has continued to this day. While making a living making signs, she has also created a variety of visual arts including hand embroidered reproductions of well-known artworks and album covers, plays and manufactures a percussion instrument called “the bones”, and  built multiple sets for community theatre productions.
Beginning in High School, throughout college and her signmaking career, she has also written both fiction and non-fiction, and was a contributing writer for many years to Sign and Digital Graphics, a trade magazine for the sign industry.
She is currently living among the redwood trees in Santa Cruz County in California, still making signs, creating art, playing music, and appreciating the natural beauty and vibrant, creative community with her husband and two fluffy Maine Coon cats.