About

My name is Jennifer Chevais.

I'm a Canadian hailing from Calgary, Alberta.

I live in France. I am a Parisian Burb Babe.

In 1997, I gave up my life in Canada to follow my heart. My clumsy story about how I met my husband Stéphane is here.

We have two children: Kilian and Brenna.

I did my higher education learning at the Alberta College of Art & Design. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts. My major was Jewellery and Metalsmithing. My second love in school was Tapestry weaving (no, really. I swear that this is true).

I've had training in computer graphics: I completed a course to become a "Concepteur Visuel Multimédia & 3D" (Multimedia & 3D Conceptual something or other) in 2003/2004 at a little private school in Paris called IBGS. It was fab.

My "Clark Kent" day job is in one of Paris's chic areas: The Champs-Elysées. I'm a Bilingual Secretary. Getting there is quite the commute and there's a reason why the Métro is never mentioned when talking about Parisian charm. Trust me on this one.

I have a "Superman" side too. I'm a painter/illustrator. You can check out my growing portfolio here or my illo website here. Someday this will be my bread and butter. I've got faith and one book cover under my belt (Awesome book BTW!). To keep me working towards that faith and to keep me from resting on my laurels, I've recently started forcing encouraging myself to post "New Work" every Monday. Because Monday's don't have to be about the suckage.

I belong to a creative organisation called the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and am actually Assistant Regional Advisor for this organisation's French division. We rock the casbah.

I do fabbo portraits (well, at least I think so... ahem...). Feel free to contact me for a commission (more info here at my etsy shop). I promise that my prices won't make you convulse on the floor and I don't take first born children either. I've got enough troubles with my own loveable urchins.

If commissions intimidate you, feel free to check out my etsy shop for other goodies. Go on. Then come back. I can wait.

Writing wise, I'm an occasional contributer to The Paris Blog. And when I say occasional, I really mean it.

I enjoyed my 15 minutes of blog "fame" when I wrote about a conversation that I had with my kids. The post was picked up by Reporters without Borders and was translated for the French online daily 20 minutes. I could totally get used to the infamy.

This blog is a mish mash of several things. It was started so that family back home in Canada could keep up to date on my little life overseas. A blog was the easiest way for them to keep posted without driving my mom crazy with emails... which is what happened during the November 2005 riots in France. It's nice to be loved.

It has since morphed into a raging wildebeast that encompasses many things but it's still mainly about my family life and my art.

It transmogrifies from a "Mommy" Blog to an "Illustration/Art" blog to an "Expat about Paris" blog at the drop of a hat and then back again. Every once in awhile I'll throw in a non-sensical book review or I'll start prattling on about French politics like I know what I'm talking about.

What can I say?...

Other than....

Rock.