Johanna Wright: Blog

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monster march 09! October 27, 2009

Quite a lovely, pink experience this year. I adore these fancy creatures!

sneaky bandits October 19, 2009

More and more work and life happenings seem to be piling up around me, like the brightly colored leaves that are exploding around here. I'm so happy and excited. Halloween is nearly here, and that alone, is enough to make me leap out of bed and start hot gluing stuff at random.

Two book projects are converging at once, along with new holiday projects that I'll post about here, soon. This drawing is from the Bandits dummy. I can't wait to start painting for the book projects. Definitely my favorite part of the process. I think it will start happening pretty soon...

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new stories... October 05, 2009

Lots of ideas are spilling out and taking shape these days. That's why I love the fall! Something about being forced back inside, makes all kinds of new creative bits slither their way out of hearts and brains...

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shows October 04, 2009

I have two shows up in New York!

The first one is at Last Exit, a fantabulous bar in Brooklyn. The pod paintings are hanging in there! Maybe you remember them from this post.? They are kind of a new thing, a new style for me and I'm really happy and excited to have them out in the world.

The second show is at Doma, a cafe/gallery in Manhattan. That show will be running until the end of October. Please check them out if you get a chance!

Hope you all have a great Sunday!

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oh my, pie September 22, 2009

Pie extravaganza.

There are lots of transitions and changes happening in my little world, and I feel like the days are getting crowded with all kinds of unexpected tasks. I've started getting up really early and working on new book projects, just so I can take a bite out of what needs to get done in the day before other things start battling it out for my attention. You would think, after years and years of freelancing, that I would have this whole time management thing figured out! Hmm, maybe someday...

The biggest change that's happening this month? I'm moving out of my studio! I'm feeling a bit sad about it, but mostly excited about new possibilities. I feel like I'm in an odd limbo at the moment, with all of my arty supplies split between two places. Not to mention, I'm trying to pack up and make room for my arty world in our house. There is plenty of room for me at home, it's just a matter of arranging things with tetris-like skill.

But the BEST thing that has happened lately? Pie! Pie and more pie. Gabe and I have been making it, eating it, and sharing it with friends. I think there must be something about fall that has inspired it.

Oh how I love pie! (The baby kind, and otherwise. Maybe even the math kind. This guy is pretty amazing.)

And just so you know, the gorgeous pie in the front of this picture was made by the lovely and multi-talented, Carolyn Digby Conahan.. Her pie talents are superb, just like her kid's books!

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Crafty Wonderland! September 12, 2009

I'm going to be at Crafty Wonderland this Sunday, September 13th, from 11-4. I'll have prints, paintings, and some teeny tiny originals on paper (new!) I hope to see you there!

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Squeezing out the last drops of... September 10, 2009

Summer. Brownsville good times.

I read my horoscope yesterday by Rob Brezsny (I love reading his horoscopes, I look forward to them every Wednesday.) Here's what he said about Geminis this week:

'"Here's what I did not do this summer," begins the testimony of one of my Gemini readers, Beth Hylton. "Not once did I swing on a tire swing over the river, watching the pink shimmery reflection of myself in a wet suit on a tire swing. I did not take a day off work to sneak out alone to Jones Beach with a book and a beer in a ginger ale bottle. I did not eat outside at a red-checkered-tablecloth-and-too-much-cheese-on-the-pasta Italian restaurant, sucking back carafes of Gallo like Kool-Aid. I did not catch fireflies for the satisfaction of setting them free, and I did not nap in the noontime sun. Where are all the 'I dids'?" I'm happy to inform Beth, as well as any of her fellow Geminis who might have been remiss in doing the kinds of activities she named, that the next three weeks will be a very favorable period to make up for lost time.'

Well, when I read this I thought WOW, I think I've actually come close to really doing all of this stuff this summer! There have been so many years when I've come to the end of August, only to lament about all of the summer to-dos that never happened.

This summer, has been entirely different. I feel like I really dug in this year, and swam, camped, floated, ate, napped, climbed, and sunned myself to complete satisfaction.

I can feel fall creeping in, and I am getting this calm and happy feeling in the pit of my stomach, that I always get when the weather turns cooler.

Just last weekend, I feel like I squeezed the last drop out of summer, and welcomed fall in one fell swoop.

I spent a few days on my parents property in Brownsville, Oregon with my family. We swam in the chilly river, put puzzles together, read books in the rain, sat on the porch and watched baby deer eat berries, built fairy houses in the fields (and left them bits of chocolate, of course), and feasted on the many amazing dishes that my sisters made throughout out the weekend. Pastas, watermelon and avocado salads, grilled chickens, and pie. Oh yes, pie and more pie. Blackberry pie and blackberry crumbles. Yum.

Now I'm back to work. Dreaming about more pie. And sketching out new stories. And feeling the winds of fall coming in and all of the changes that come with it. Happy and hopeful for endings and new beginnings..

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