Ashley Yazdani @ashleyyazdani - Tumblr Blog

There’s a book hiding in here. 👀 . . . #ofwaldenpondpb https://www.instagram.com/p/CH_b_P7ng41/?igshid=188me3bwfqimy

View this post on Instagram

Good news number two! ✌🏻 . If you’ve seen my stories today then you will have noticed the announcement from @jillgrinberglit : they represent illustrators now, and I’m so pleased to be one of them! My agent is Jessica Saint Jean (@saintleighjess ), and working with her has already been so, so wonderful. I can tell that this is the beginning of a strong relationship, and a lot of growth for my art. Cheers to the future! https://www.instagram.com/p/CH1CE8VnbxM/?igshid=rwp9r73t98y5

Good news number two! ✌🏻 . If you’ve seen my stories today then you will have noticed the announcement from @jillgrinberglit : they represent illustrators now, and I’m so pleased to be one of them! My agent is Jessica Saint Jean (@saintleighjess ), and working with her has already been so, so wonderful. I can tell that this is the start of a strong relationship, and a lot of growth for my art. Cheers to the future! ☀️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CH1A94yHBKO/?igshid=1ab6arlznl3l4

Good news number two! ✌🏻 . If you’ve seen my stories today then you might have caught the announcement from @jillgrinberglit : they’re representing illustrators now, and I’m so pleased to be one of them! My agent is Jessica Saint Jean (@saintleighjess ), and working with her has been so, so wonderful. I can already tell that this is the start of a strong relationship, and a lot of artistic growth. Cheers to the future! ☀️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CH05mVHHVKe/?igshid=12y88c7sv8bhy

Y’all, I’m about to share a flood of good news, so let’s start here. 🧊 I’m going to be illustrating OF WALDEN POND, by Lesa Cline-Ransome, due to be published in 2022, and I am SO excited. To say that this project is a dream is an understatement. It unites one of my favorite places, time periods, historical figures, and picture book authors, all in one book. Kismet! I feel beyond fortunate to have been chosen for this book, and am so grateful for the chance to bring Thoreau, Tudor, and the ice of Walden Pond to life. 🧊 I’ve actually been sitting on this announcement for a while now, because sharing good news in 2020, when everyone is having such a hard time, has felt somehow inappropriate. But I’ve thought about it a lot. What we are all trying our hardest to do is keep going forward, and perhaps we can be buoyed by the positive moments that we can each share. So what are some good things in your lives these days? Please share - I want to hear them. 💙 @holidayhousebks #lesaclineransome #ofwaldenpondpb https://www.instagram.com/p/CHyVkkcnQ2R/?igshid=wim30s7e48ag

#lesaclineransome #ofwaldenpondpb

Diving into a new project and discovering a new, old, young, familiar face. 🌲 https://www.instagram.com/p/CHYlIaTnr-9/?igshid=16lu8c8n2ijfc

Over the past few weeks I have watched my home state burn. . It has been heartbreaking. Acres of natural beauty destroyed. Thousands of people and families displaced, or worse. So much devastation. . But what has really set me off is watching trump’s response to it all, or really his lack thereof. . There are many factors at play behind these fires, but it really boils down to one: there is no question that these fires have been turbo charged by climate change. . And trump’s response? “It’ll start cooling again. You’ll see.” . When you’ve got thousands of respected scientists from around the world sounding the alarm bells on climate change, this kind of response is nothing less than criminally negligent. Not to mention painfully ignorant. Our children will pay the price for this. . This is the single biggest issue driving me as a voter, and because of this I am 100% in support of @joebiden . . He has demonstrated flexibility, reshaping his once disappointing environmental policy into the most ambitious climate plan by any major party presidential candidate, ever. . He has met with the @sunrisemvmt to discuss policy choices, letting young folks who will inherit this planet have a say in his plan. . And he understands that climate change is real and caused by human activity. That’s a low bar, but Biden clears it. Trump doesn’t. . If Biden is elected we will still need to loudly demand the change to save our planet, but he will listen. Trump won’t. He has already made that clear. . This is just to say: are you registered to vote? Do you have a voting plan? Do you know your state’s voting guidelines, timelines, and restrictions? . If you said “no” to any of the above then visit the link in my bio to find all the info you need. It takes about five minutes to register to vote, or to check that you are registered (and please: double check this in advance. Maybe give it a go right now). . And if you want your own Climate Voter patch then visit my Etsy shop (also linked in bio). They ship for free through the good ol’ USPS, and until election day 50% of the proceeds from these patches will be donated to the Sunrise Movement. 🌞 (at Minneapolis, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFdwLFUHZwl/?igshid=soo4hohm74w1

Feeling totally gutted by this loss. Thank you for everything, RBG. . This woman leaves a legacy of liberation, especially for women. But don’t forget: laws can be changed, and her work can all be undone. . If Obama wasn’t allowed to appoint someone to replace Scalia then Trump deserves the same treatment. It’s only fair. Please call your representatives and hold them to this, even if they are Democrats, even if they are already on board with this. They still need to hear it from their constituents. . And please come out to vote for Joe Biden this year. Let’s elect someone who will work to safeguard RBG’s legacy, and who will continue to bring us forward by fostering equality, with liberty and justice for all. https://www.instagram.com/p/CFXUQLuHtsc/?igshid=b9e7z21khbne

By Ashley Benham Yazdani In most picture books the characters that we write about are humans, or animals, or at least some kind of organism. But what if you want to tell the story of a place? When...

A few months ago I was invited to contribute a post to the 24 Carrot Writing blog. 🥕 My piece went up this week! It’s about how I approached writing about the landscape of Central Park for A GREEN PLACE TO BE. Check it out for a peek into my writing and thought process, and for some questions you might want to ask yourself if you are also using the land as a character. 🌎 #writing #kidlit #kidlitart #centralpark #landscapearchitecture #picturebooks #speakforthetrees

A Dara update for those that have not seen my stories. He was discharged yesterday after about two weeks of hospital stays, and amazingly seems back to his old self! Dara was diagnosed with a super rare autoimmune condition called Susac syndrome, and will be managing it using a 12 week course of steroids in tandem with two years of immunosuppressants. The steroids have already helped him on the road to recovery and he is bright eyed and energetic again (this picture is from yesterday). He will never regain back the vision that he lost, but that’s a relatively small price to pay and he feels very lucky. We both do. 👁 Beginning a treatment of immunosuppression during a pandemic is undeniably not great (it means that his immune system will be weakened, in his case for two years at least). Friends, if you were concerned about Dara while he was experiencing his strokes, then I would like to ask you to help play a part in his recovery by following the CDC’s guidelines for avoiding COVID transmission: stay home, avoid gathering with others, wear a mask if you must go out, and wash your hands often. This disease is virulent, and can be spread without you even being aware that you have it. Dara is now in the high risk pool of people, and maybe some of your family members are, too. Think about that Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, and now imagine the COVID edition, tracing who gave this disease to whom. Just one person can spread it much farther and wider than they could ever know, devastating countless lives along the way. So if you love me, or you love Dara, or you just kind of like either of us a little bit, please, please, please, wear a mask and practice safe social distancing. You never know, you might be the one to save his life with your actions. 😷 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDp3G_AnmF6/?igshid=u7lsb6akoad0

An update to my previous post a very big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who has contacted medical family, friends, or friends-of-friends to help us try to navigate this health crisis. Your love and care for us has made us feel incredibly supported, and we are so grateful to everyone who has reached out to help us. ❤️❤️❤️ I hope to repay this kindness to everyone someday, although my wish for all of you is that you and your loved ones never go through something like this. Yesterday Dara began complaining of strange issues with his hearing (“you sound like a droid,” he said to me; apparently we all do), and we became concerned that he might have been having another stroke or stroke-like event. Today we drove down to the Mayo Clinic and just went straight to the ER, so it was a little easier to get in there than we had expected. Dara has been admitted there and we have confidence that they will be an excellent resource to provide him with a second opinion on his case, hopefully solve this mystery, and prevent any future strokes, seizures, vision loss, or hearing issues. I will continue to share more detailed updates with family and friends, but I wanted everyone to know that at the moment he is in very good hands. 🏨 And seriously, thank you again for all of the love and care that you have expressed for Dara. He is a special soul and my very best friend, and I know he means a lot to many of you as well. ❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CDcxvbVnDzz/?igshid=4x5bnuf3vfmc

August 1st is our wedding anniversary. I think neither of us anticipated going through something like this eight years into our marriage (38 years is more realistic). For those that don’t know, my husband had a stroke about one week ago that caused him to lose some of his vision permanently. We called an ambulance and he was admitted to the hospital, leaving me with our little toddler at home. The next morning we were on the phone when he had another stroke, causing him to lose his ability to speak for a short time. This was the scariest phone call of our lives, and we both truly thought he was dying. They released him from the hospital about a day later, and less than 24 hours later he had another stroke while in the car with me. His team of doctors is fairly stumped about why this is happening to him, and so far we have only a few theories and no real answers. It’s completely terrifying. He was released from the hospital again yesterday, and we are hoping for the best but also feeling very scared. I would like to get him connected with the stroke center at the Mayo Clinic (if our insurance covers it; curses upon you, American “healthcare” system), so if anybody reading this knows anyone that works there then I would be very interested in getting in touch. ❤️ An experience like this throws life into sharp relief. One day you can be bopping along, listening to Taylor Swift’s new album and loving your life. The next day you can be listening to the love of your life’s consciousness dissolve on the other end of a phone line, repeating “I love you” back and forth to each other until he can’t say it anymore. Hold your loved ones tight. Life can change so quickly. 💔 Lastly I want to say that in spite of all this we are very fortunate. While big bills will undoubtedly be rolling in soon, our insurance should cover part of it. We know that not everybody gets to say “do whatever you need to” to their doctors. Nobody should ever be financially ruined for getting sick, and the fact that our country doesn’t believe this fills me with rage. Good health is a right, not a privilege for only the wealthy to enjoy. America needs Medicare for all, now. 1st📷: @dylanjohnwestern https://www.instagram.com/p/CDYHI9HnBCl/?igshid=4l6de0etsp0o

In March Breonna Taylor was murdered by three plain-clothes policemen who broke into her home and shot her eight times for a crime that she did not commit (these completely inept cops went to the wrong house, AND the criminal they intended to find had in fact already been arrested). ⚫️ Yesterday was Breonna Taylor’s birthday. I intended to post this then, but the day got away from me. But I think that it’s ok that this is going out today instead, because the movement to bring #justiceforbreonnataylor does not exist on just one day. It extends onwards until justice is served and her murderers are found guilty of their crime. It extends until we heal the wounds of 400 years of racism in our country. It extends until police end their practice of disproportionate force against people of color and begin uplifting the communities they are sworn to protect. It extends until everyone understands that black lives matter. ⚫️ If you have a moment, please consider signing the petition for Breonna on change.org (link in my bio), and consider writing to the Kentucky Attorney General and/or the mayor of Louisville. ⚫️ Breonna would have turned 27 yesterday. I remember 27 - that was such a good year, a golden time of young adulthood. I wish Breonna could have experienced it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGqeZyHgLP/?igshid=jzgohcf6rugk

#justiceforbreonnataylor

Update: if you used the Black Lives Matter hashtag in your post for this then you need to delete your original post. By tagging BLM in our #amplifymelanatedvoices posts we are unfortunately drowning out vital information from the BLM hashtag feed. Apparently editing the text of your post isn’t enough, but deleting and reposting should help the hashtag feed to go back to normal. Thanks, y’all! 🖤 (at Minneapolis, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/CA74MTBHCm9/?igshid=1gimcdy6evbyv

#amplifymelanatedvoices

I don’t post all that often, but I’ll be deliberately pressing pause here until June 7th to help #amplifymelanatedvoices . Fellow white people, now is the time for us to listen to people of color, learn from them, and then step up and use the privilege that we have to help create positive change. Let’s give them space to speak up. #blacklivesmatter #blackouttuesday (at Minneapolis, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6xy8DH2kk/?igshid=1dovl12ogw0g8

#amplifymelanatedvoices #blacklivesmatter #blackouttuesday

George Floyd. 💔 In 2015 I was in Baltimore when Freddie Gray was murdered in police custody. Now here I am in Minneapolis witnessing the tragedy and aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by police. This has got to stop. The police and criminal justice systems in our country need to do some serious work on themselves to resolve their racist tendencies, and we all need to be sure that when we encounter racism in our daily lives we take a strong stand against it, whether it’s coming from law enforcement, a family member, or ourselves. It’s not enough to just not be racist, we have to be anti-racist. One of the most inspiring things I witnessed in Baltimore was the city’s response to Freddy Gray’s murder. Ordinary Baltimore citizens came together to have conversations and truly work on themselves. And this work lasted from 2015 onwards. That city has a lot of challenges, but from what I saw people were still making a genuine effort to resolve the city’s problems up to when I moved away in 2018. Sadly there was no justice there, and Freddie Gray’s killers still went free. This is unacceptable. I just hope that the citizens of the Twin Cities can come together to demand real justice and real change. Mr. Floyd deserved better, but we can at least give him this. (at Minneapolis, Minnesota) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAyZH5bnltI/?igshid=1q3k7ssqu28xs

So exactly 17 months ago I had a baby, and he’s the best!! I absolutely love motherhood. However, becoming a mother has definitely made my process as an illustrator slower. Like, MUCH slower. 🐢 I’m talking at least 500% slower. 🐌 As the primary caretaker while my husband is at work, I’ve been trying to juggle childcare, work, and having a functional house for the past year (so I really feel for everyone who is struggling with this sort of thing for the first time in these pandemic days 😷). I’m not going to lie: it’s been really hard. But now I’m dipping my toes back in to my work, and trying to find a better balance that will bring me back to creating more (and let’s be real: creating income again, too). I wanted to start small so that I didn’t get discouraged by slow progress on a big project, and so when I saw that @mrtomfroese was offering a few free spots in his Sweet Spots class on Skillshare I jumped on it. It was a great class, and I loved being able to get an in-depth look at another illustrator’s process. And now here are my two sets of spot illustrations about new parenthood (of course!). Made in @procreate using @vvberger brushes. #vivibrush Thanks so much for sharing your class, Tom! https://www.instagram.com/p/CABQzoSHIhm/?igshid=251itgnyjtlu

#vivibrush

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Ashley Yazdani