Irene Brady, Meet The Author

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Irene Brady
Up Close and Personal Irene Brady in redrock country

At right is a real-time picture of me, taken in January of 1998. I was going to use one a few years younger, but being devoted to realism and honesty, I thought I'd better come clean....ummmm -- better get a newer one, then, huh?

Of course, I see myself differently.
Here's the REAL me.
friends I live in the Oregon woods about three miles from the nearest town. When I'm not giving workshops (more below) I write and illustrate nature books for kids (and adults who like lots of pictures and clear explanations like I do!).

When I can find the time, I go exploring and sketching -- to the beach, the mountains, to the jungle and beach in Costa Rica and New Zealand, the Big Island in Hawaii, into the woods to visit a hawk nest, down to the creek to watch for dippers (little gray birds that walk under water).

I started writing and illustrating when I was 19, and my first book, America's Horses & Ponies was published in 1969 by Houghton Mifflin. I wrote and illustrated a lot more books, won some awards, illustrated for Audubon, Ranger Rick Nature Magazine and others.

Recently I've been leading Adventure Travel Workshops on nature sketching, landscape sketching, and watercolor-pencil techniques. The workshops are designed for people who are attracted to nature-oriented organizations such as adventure travel cruises, nature centers, Elderhostel groups and environmental organizations. I really enjoy interacting with the vital, adventuresome participants of all ages which they attract.

I used to be the Scientific Illustrator at the National Fish & Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, Oregon, doing graphics, illustrating papers, and making courtroom displays for the Exxon Valdez (oil spill) trial and others. It was great to be able to help wildlife hands-on.

But now I'm back to writing and illustrating my own books, freelancing nature illustration jobs, painting art for Forest Service and nature center interpretive signs, and creating and presenting the nature sketching and journaling workshops.

I created cool workbooks for the workshops, and the participants love taking home the book with everything we did in class plus advice and techniques to refer to later. And I love showing people how to realize their dreams of being able to draw what they see ~ and in the journaling classes to help them write prose and poetry expressively to enhance their journaling.. It's definitely WIN/WIN!

      In 2000 I published the first in a series of books about the wild places of America --The Redrock Canyon Explorer (click on the book cover to go see).
      Writing and illustrating it took me about three years. It's carried in state and national parks and monuments, bookstores and trading posts of the Southwest ~ Arches, Zion, Montezuma Castle, and Glen Canyon Visitor Center, to name a few. You can order it from me, through my distributors (if you are a retailer) listed at the bottom of the ordering page, or you can order through Amazon, (there's a link on my order page.)

I'm finished with the second volume of the series, and about to send it to press. This one's on Southeastern cypress swamps. It got put on hold while I wrote Illustrating Nature ~ Right-brain Art in a Left-brain World, a whole new direction for me, with marketing in areas I've never tackled before -- and the results have been astonishing....I'm getting acquainted with homeschoolers all over the world, which really thrills me.

box turtle           I love my work. My days are kept interesting by alternating writing and illustrating, watching wildlife out my studio windows, adding to my wildlife photograph clip files, working on my sketching/writing journals, reading, working on my clipart collection, watching nature programs on PBS, creating new drawing and journaling workshops, promoting and distributing my books, and filling book orders as soon as I receive them. And then I take off and do some sketching workshops both locally and in faraway places while I see the world. What a life! Thanks for coming to visit. Drop me a line if you'd like.

I am very dedicated to my reading public,
and all book orders are filled quickly and efficiently.
Happy reading!

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