About Us

Our Story

A Studio With a Love for All Things California

Coyote brush, our namesake plant, is a hardy shrub native to California that takes root in difficult soils and allows other plants, like oak trees and sages to establish themselves. It grows on sunny hillsides and canyons, in grasslands, oak woodlands, coastal and chaparral habitats. It's the plant that we see when we look out our studio windows.

Tina Curiel (artist and owner) and Lindsey Moore (graphic designer and operations manager) work together as the Coyote Brush Studios team. Tina creates the watercolor illustrations and ideas for how she wants things designed and Lindsey helps make these ideas a reality. We also get incredible support from Tina’s two sisters and our assistant Emmy who together are our “junior coyotes.” Together we make handmade products that are well designed, as sustainably made as possible (using recycled or reused materials whenever we can) that are also informative. A portion of the profits is also donated to different California charities to ensure that California remains a place of wonder for future generations.

Each project is a labor of love, from researching to illustrating the biodiversity of California to designing the finished products. Our research takes many forms: reading new and old natural history books, traveling across the state, visiting museums and sketching from their collections, and taking classes on the natural history of the Bay Area. Tina gathers all of her own reference photos and then spend hours painting the watercolor illustrations that are scanned and used in each project. We then get to share our research with others in the form of fun facts and information booklets that accompany the products.

Similar to how coyote brush allows other plants to take root, through informative and well-designed products we strive to empower the minds of California to grow. The more we know about the plants and animals that surround us, the better we will be able to understand and ultimately protect them. Join us in spreading a love of locality and the state of California.

Our Team

Meet Tina

Hi! I am a painter, photographer, amateur naturalist, and lover of all things California! I’m most excited when I’m out in the field photographing reference material or painting the final touches of a new piece. I enjoy listening to nature documentary soundtracks or episodes of Cosmos or Planet Earth while painting. I have a BFA in Painting/Drawing from California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco. I've worked on projects with the California Academy of Sciences and the California Native Plant Society.

Meet Lindsey

Hi! I’m a graphic designer and also the all-around operations manager here at Coyote Brush Studios! I try my hardest to make sure that things are running smoothly around here so that Tina can focus on creating new work. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and when not working I can be found behind a new novel or searching for the latest dinosaur-themed addition to my wardrobe! I have a BFA in graphic design from California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco.

Emmy, Julia and Elaine, our three Junior Coyotes, are the busy bees around the studios, helping Tina and Lindsey with a variety of tasks from cutting, pinning and ironing fabric to stamping shipping materials and packaging stickers. They also help Tina get the best shots while out adventuring in the field. They love listening to the Great British Baking Show and the Lord of the Rings while working!

Our Namesake Plant

Our namesake plant can be found growing along the California coast and into the central valley and northern Sierra foothills. For the majority of the year, this shrub goes mainly unnoticed, filling landscapes or dotting hillsides along the freeway. Come September, these plants get a bold new look as they become covered in tiny white or yellow blooms. This brush is dioecious, meaning there are male and female plants, and the flowers are the biggest indicator. Coyote brush is a secondary pioneer plant, that provides shade and gives way to plants such as coast live oaks, California bay and coastal sage scrub that might not be able to grow otherwise.