Toby Finds a Home and Toby’s Farm Adventure are two children’s books I co-wrote to help young readers understand homelessness, compassion, and recovery in an accessible way. Through the eyes of Toby, an orange cat, the stories introduce real-life experiences at Blanchet House and Blanchet Farm. Toby Finds a Home explores life at a free café and the people it serves, while Toby’s Farm Adventure follows Toby to a working farm where individuals in recovery build stability and hope. Both books aim to spark empathy and meaningful conversations with children.
Books can be purchased at ShopBlanchet.com
Nonprofit social media content
I came up with a concept to photograph a bed around town for our cover story on the lack of affordable housing in Portland. We bought the little twin bed at Ikea. The quilt was my mom's. We scouted locations the day before looking for a street downtown that didn't have a lot of trees blocking the buildings. On the morning of the shoot we pulled up to the location in a Uhaul, waited for a red light then jumped out with the bed and ran it into the middle of the street. Our photographer, Joe Riedl, snapped a few shots then we'd run the bed back to the sidewalk so cars could pass. This ended up being one of our most popular covers.
Photography by Thomas Teal.
Illustration by Vicente Marti.
Photography by Christine Dong.
The cover story for this issue was about the struggling strawberry industry in Oregon. We bought strawberries from different grocery stores and found the cheapest were the nicest to look at. I shot this cover photo on my iPhone using natural light from a window in the office. Our illustration intern Jodie Beechem drew the faces and headline. This was the first issue we tried out a 3D WW logo.
Concept, art direction and layout. Photo by Amaren Colosi.
Art direction and layout. Photography by Joe Michael Riedl.
I created the concept, wireframe, color palette and design in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Shot with natural light.
Concept, photography, styling and retouching.
Concept, styling, photography and retouching.
Art direction, photography and layout.
I created the concept, wireframe, color palette, logo and design in Photoshop and Illustrator.
A "let's grab people's attention, make them laugh and endorse Hillary Clinton with over-the-top positivity" concept.
