Recently...
- Free in the Deep Blue
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- thank you, Portland
- colors colors colors
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- colors in you
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- deadline world
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- diorama!
- Reading, interview, and a star review in Booklist!
- new season, new projects...
- Bandits book giveaway!
- Beware! BANDITS are on the loose!
- here we go...
- More Bandits...
- Bandits etc....
- pantyhose!
- etsy store is open!!!
- Bridget Zinn
- Juniper in Wonderland...
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- Juniper's First Week....
- welcome baby!!
- nesting...
- Presents, and goodness....
- Lucky baby, again!
- Lucky baby....
- 36 weeks.....
- Celebrate Good Times..
- Intern!
- Goo
- Tides
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- the ocean floor
- etsy store
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- so long, spring
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- Maude Kerns Artists Panel
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- the bump!
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- SCBWI Western Washington Conference
- Maude Kerns Art Center!
- Seattle!
- Chicago Mural
- new art, and chicago good times
- onwards, upwards, etc. etc.
- buckman and bethel street gallery
- fin
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- Bandits bandits bandits...
- Adios, January
- Green Bean Books
- Belmont Library
- Movin on up..(to the northeast side!)
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- The New York Times
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- Three cheers and crossed fingers!
- OPB
welcome baby!! September 30, 2010
Our baby girl has arrived!!!!!!!!!
Juniper Hale Blair zoomed into the world on September 25th, 2010. She is absolutely amazing and we are officially in love. More pictures and details, soon!
Presents, and goodness.... September 09, 2010
As this little baby grows and grows and we get closer and closer to meeting her, I'm finding that some days I have the energy of thirty muskrats, and other days I am about as productive as a vacationing sloth. Today would be a vacationing sloth kind of day. Lots of eating and snoozing. But during these sleepy days, I've had time to sit and organize some computerish things. Like this long overdue post about some of the beautiful presents that this wee baby has received over the last few months!! Sigh. So amazing..
First off, let's start off with this lovely gift from Jim and Laini. This shirt promises to tell you the future career of your baby, and I couldn't stop laughing when I opened it. My dad will like it a lot, being an accountant and all. (Just a regular accountant, not for the mafia, as..err..far as I know..)
My friend Amie made these gorgeous blankies that made me cry. I heart these fabrics so much!
Illustrator extrodinairre and friend, Carolyn Conahan made this most amazing card!
Matt Holm, of Babymouse fame, made this special Babymouse card for the wee one!
Matt's lovely and uber talented wife, Cyndi, made this quilt (!!!!) that still blows me away every time I see it. Gorgeous!!
I don't know how we got lucky enough to have dear Chary make this super special dress from what seems to be, vintage fabric. Unbelievably lovely. Lucky babe!
Yipes, get ready for these hand knitted booties and fabuloso bib from Jenn and Jenny. LOVE. If you get a chance to poke around their sites, you will see some wonderous things. Such kind and talented peeps!
Gabe's auntie Karen made us so many beautiful things. Blankies and this doll and animals, and adorned burping clothes! Could this baby be in luckier? I think not.
Our friend Sara, (who happens to be an amazing lady all around, not to mention, a fabuloso mom. Check out her food blog...) made the baby a Winnie-the-Pooh, and an awesome sling, (I never managed to get a good picture of the sling...) The Pooh bear is especially special, because my sisters and I had a handmade Winnie-the-Pooh set, (Pooh, Piglet, Kanga and Roo..) made from the very same pattern when we were wee ones.
Dear and talented Kristy made us this birdie nest necklace.
Owly shoes from cousin Jill and family!
This very special hoodie was once worn by a very special little friend. The hoodie (and special little friend) even appeared in mouse form, in a crowd scene in The Secret Circus. It was so sweet of her mama to save this for me.
Blankie and hat, made by Gabe's sister! Perfect for those chilly winter walks...
Robot eating a hamburger from Aimee, George and Zach!
Tiny knit bolero sweater from Kate, (Kate is also known as one half of the genius behind the Kecky County Fair) I love this sweater!
Books, books, books from lots of awesome folks! Yahoo!
WOW! Epic post. I better stop here...
I wish I could show you every last thing that we've received, everyone has been so generous, and we are so incredibly lucky. Thank you, thank you to all!
Lucky baby, again! September 01, 2010
This past weekend, my sisters and mom helped to organize a baby shower here in Portland, where a kaboodle of friends and family showed up to a lovely park by our house, bringing with them lots of ice cream treats and gifts. Yum, and yay! The love, the love!!
I feel like a really lucky lady with all of these awesome people around us, and I'm so thrilled that our little baby is coming into this world to meet them all. There were some really special presents from both of the showers that I want to compile and share with you in the next few days, once I get my brain together. Tiny (and some, not so tiny...) beautiful baby things!
Lucky baby.... September 01, 2010
This summer has been about a lot of things...slowing down, stretching out, working away on several book projects, and most of all...getting ready for this wee little baby! We've been trying to prepare as best we can, mostly just talking and daydreaming and imagining what it's going to be like to meet this special person, and what it will be like to be parents, (eek!)
But there's a whole side to this baby's arrival that I hadn't anticipated, and that's the community of family and friends that support us in a million ways. The love and generosity is almost overwhelming at times, it feels really hot and bright, but in a good way. It reminds me of when Gabe and I got married and we were sort of overwhelmed by all of the goodness from friends and family. I remember Gabe saying, "The love, the love!" in kind of a frantic voice, and we would shake our heads and try to just open our hearts to let it all in. And here we are again, the love, the love! It's even bigger than our wedding time, and coming from so many directions, but somehow it's easier to absorb it all now, because we get to share it...
To keep you all up to speed, we had a baby shower extravaganza when we were in Chicago land over the Fourth of July. Gabe's mom and sister organized it, with help from Gabe's aunties, and it was such a fun afternoon of family and presents and sunflowers and iced tea, and lots and lots of delicious food and cupcakes. (Thanks for the pictures, Lisa!)
Lucky days, indeed....
Celebrate Good Times.. August 25, 2010
Oh my, it's been over a week already since I've posted something? So many celebration type things are happening right now, it's hard to keep up! We went to a wedding last weekend, (that looked suspiciously like this painting, btw, in a special and wooded place where I used to romp around with friends as a teen..) and now we have a slew of celebrations in a row....birthdays, baby shower, family in town, and another wedding that we have been eagerly anticipating all year. Whew! Lucky summer.
I have been getting some work done in the middle of all that, believe it or not. More book-in-progress stuff to post, just as soon as I eat this celebration cupcake...nom nom nom...
Intern! August 16, 2010
It's that time again, intern time! I am once again, hunting for a fabulous dream intern to help me out over the next few months and beyond...
Ideally, this awesome person would like to spend around 6+ hours a week helping me around the studio. My schedule is very flexible, so I would be happy to work with you to find what kind of routine would be best.
My studio is now located in my house, in NE Portland, Oregon, just a couple of blocks from all kinds of food and coffee things...
Duties for wonderful dream intern:
SHIPPING: Packing and shipping etsy orders, twice a week. Packing and shipping art for shows, once a month.
IMAGES: Uploading images to etsy and my website. Scanning images for the books, organizing new prints and putting them in plastic sleeves.
ORDERING: Tracking print supply and ordering prints, ordering shipping supplies, ordering books, tracking and ordering art supplies as needed.
EVENTS: Responding to emails for requests to attend art fairs or book events, applying for events that need applications. Organization, prep, packing assistance for events. Possible paid travel opportunities to help with art events, book events, conferences, workshops, classes, and art shows.
PAINTING: Measuring and prepping canvases for book layout, painting mini painting backgrounds, painting mini painting edges, transferring images onto canvas.
PROMOTION: Putting together press pack, compiling list of press contacts, follow-up, updating mailing list.
I'm hoping to make this a paid position in the future, but for now, this won't be a paid internship, aside from the occasional event travel. I would love to feed you lunch, help you to get school credit, and teach you all that I can (and that you would care to know) about the children's book industry, illustration, my painting process, and how to run a very small arty business.
If this sort of thing might interest you, please drop me a line at.... MAIL at JOHANNAWRIGHT.COM, or you can go to the contact page on this site and fill out a contact form.
Please feel free to pass this along to anyone in the Portland area that you think might be interested.
Thank you so much, I look forward to hearing from you. Yes, you!
Goo August 11, 2010
I read once, that when a caterpillar forms a chrysalis, it actually turns into a pile of goo before it reforms as a butterfly. I've been feeling a lot like that lately, like a big pile of goo, waiting to transform. Like I'm just in a middle stage of uncertainty....with so much excitement and fear about what's ahead.
I was sitting in my midwives' office yesterday, waiting for my appointment, when a giant moth (or...butterfly? Hard to say..) flew out of nowhere and landed on my belly. I started to cry a little bit, in a double-rainbow kind of way...(what does this mean?), or possibly in just a pregnant lady emotional kind of way...
It was an especially poignant moment, because I've been really into painting butterfly type things, lately; odd transformational images with wings and bugs and colorful bits.
So I suppose that's why it I felt like this butterfly-moth visitor seemed to carry with it a message that I was on the right track. It felt like a gentle way of reminding me that things are opening up and transforming in a way I can't predict or plan for. That maybe it's ok to just relax into this gooey time , and maybe, just maybe..it's all going to be ok.
