Where do I get my inspiration? My first source is in my sleep. I wake up with very vivid images imprinted on my mind. I am also very much inspired by the shapes surrounding me. Any shapes, anywhere: puddles drying out, stucco on the ceiling, hairs on the floor, you name it.

I sign my work "jlangis", which people sometimes confuse for "hangis". When I first signed a drawing like that as a kid, I laughed, thinking this would happen if I ever became an artist.

My work has been exhibited in local galleries, upscale restaurants and fine stores in the Portland/Vancouver area and was featured in the newspaper The Columbian in November 2004.

If images came first, words were not too far behind

Although I have used watercolor and soft pastel in my paintings, I currently use these two media mostly to illustrate the children's books that I am writing. It all started when, going to bed one night, I thought I saw something through the window. The next morning, I felt the urge to write and illustrate what my imagination had invented.
I Think I Heard a Sound Outside ©2002 was born.

Soon, I felt the same intense desire to put in images and in words an adventure that was recounted to my family by my nephew Philippe. And so was born Philip and the Butterfly ©2004. After several drafts, a story was ready for the world, so ready that Philip and the Butterfly is now an animated movie. The DVD is distributed exclusively by the National Film Board of Canada.

This is only the beginning. I have several other stories on the way and ideas lined up for more lives than a cat. Who knows where this will take me? One thing is sure. The last decade has tought me a lot and I cannot wait to share it, with little kids or big kids, in images or in words.