a portrait a week

I've missed a few weeks but as a friend said to me 

"it's better to do something imperfectly than nothing perfectly". 

I love the dreaminess in my children's faces in these photos. It's not often that you see this quality in an adult's face. After the events this week in Boston I was looking at my kids and wondering at what age they would first learn about the twisted nature of some individuals. I was thinking about my friends with older children and curious about how they are talking about this situation with them, as well as about Sandy Hook. 

Have you had to talk to children, or other friends, about these recent events and how have to handled it? 

What do you want for your children to know in the midst of tragedies?

This is part of the portrait of your children once a week for a year over at Che & Fidel.

going forward

As you can tell I haven't written in a long time.

It's not because I've lacked the time, or for lack of ideas, but truth be told, it's because I'm changing things up in the Messy Lab Studio. When I started this blog I was following up on two things I love and hoping that with more research and exploration I'd know which way to go, what to invest more time in, and what I love more.

The two things are:

1- making a mess with kids, exploring sensory play and art projects.

2- making my art and illustrations.

I kind of knew that #2 would win out, but I've wanted to explore the idea of having a messy lab studio physical space where children could come to explore art making.  A friend sent me a link to Mucky Kids Art Studio in Boston and it's been a source of much inspiration. HOWEVER, many things have held me back from pursuing this fantastic idea, namely the fact that I'd not be able to do my own work. It sounds rather selfish when I type it out, but really I want to try and make it work. Can I, me, Johanna, make a living doing what I love doing more than anything else in the world - - making art.

SO, here goes...this blog is now going to be much more about illustration and art making. Sorry for the switch up, but life does that doesn't it?

I'm going to keep the Freak Flag Fridays, and pick up where I left off with the 52 weeks project, but I'll be doing some experimentation with the tabs and what I include here. I'm not one for showing products, so much as exploring process, studio spaces and projects.

I'll leave you with this fantastic video from UK illustrator, Sam Brewster. He opens up his process and gives encouragement about how to start your career.

Here

it

is.