Happy (Late) Valentine’s Day!

I like to celebrate Valentine’s Day Decor sales the day after.

Paul was Joe’s (my guy’s) Godmother’s Father.

During the service, I ended up drawing Paul from his wedding photo he took at San Francisco. The same sailor hat he wore back then was placed on top of his urn. They played “I Left my Heart in San Francisco” by Sinatra, it was a beautiful service. 

It was my first time meeting Joe’s Godmother, so I was a little shy to give the sketch to Melody — losing your Dad is in the top ten worse days ever — but at the end I did end up giving it to her through some encouragement … she smiled & liked it, so I’m happy for that. 

This took place in Apple Valley, the wide open spaces of the desert was gooorgeous. I live next to the ocean, so it’s such a contrast in environments! 

Going to any Memorial Service makes me renew my New Year’s Resolutions  

Before I ride off in the sunset, I’ll keep in mind to enjoy the ride by doing more of what I love.

*turns up Sinatra songs & croons along

Drawing on a small surface area is faster, but the detail is tricker. The next 20-min portrait will be on a large paper with charcoal, it’s good to mix it up

Stan: Hello Sophia, you’re looking younger every day. 

Sophia: Hi Stan, and that’s a beautiful toupee you’re wearing. Great, now we’re both liars.

It was fun to see such purdy things & visit Globecraft Memories’ Booth with product that I recognized working on! It was Globecraft Memories’ Piccolo DIY Home Décor Debut~

Here’s the progress of the Piccolo Brand Identity:

First a sketch, then it’s narrowed down before it’s refined in Illustrator. Here is the current Piccolo logo with decorative elements that may be used in Promotional items like Catalogs, etc.

I loovvve the sophisticated color palette, picked by Mae Lewis & Summer Spedowski. 

I worked for the Children’s Market for a long time, so it’s always refreshing working in something other then primary colors, haha!

When I used to perform at piano recitals, my teacher said that it was much harder to perform a song everybody knew, because if you screwed up people would know

I wanted to start sketchin’ famous people when I had more time to practice my drawing, further down the road — but it’s fun to see where I can improve. Happy B-day, Mr. Lincoln! ♥

I’ll draw a Portrait for about 20 minutes a day. It’s a great warm-up exercise!

I took a Portrait Drawing Class when I was working on my BA — we had to turn in a drawing a day. All this homework really paid off at the end of the class.
I could whip out a drawing soooo much faster & with more accuracy. 

Lately, I’ve been using the computer exclusively in my work. I draw directly into Photoshop using my Mouse Pen … BUT there’s nothing like drawing from life — it trains my eye + refines my style.

It’ll be fun to chart my progress + “Fill in the Blank” at the end of the year

What a FABulous year it’s been! Thank you for all your encouragement & support — here’s to an amazing 2012!! 

★ Wishing you a safe and happy holidays ★

xo, Anna

I think I’ll name my new printer GIGANTOR

I upgraded my ‘lil all-in-one HP printer to a Canon, which prints up to 13″ x 19″.

(I’ll be able to print out actual size pages of the Children’s book I’m working on, awwwww YEAGH!)

I bought it for… drumroll, please … less then half price on Craig’s List — MINT in box — from a film student that didn’t really have a need for it. I’ve gotten addicted to bargaining when I used to live in Thailand. But even if you detest bargaining, the people who posted on Craig’s List have already bargained the price down for you.

Joe was so kind to pick up this big boy, since it was on his way home from Long Beach. I didn’t know the pick-up place was in Crenshaw, Joe said he saw a police raid a house on his way there — Adventure Times!

(I bought my MacBook Pro from Craig’s List too, I recommend arranging the meeting somewhere public. Just in case…and you might want to go with someone too. Thanks to Liz & Cynthia for playing chaperon )

Here’s a progression of my office space below. I’ve found less IS more —

BEFORE :

AFTER:

— but, like Jello, there’s always room for a dollhouse shelf. 

—————-

Any tips for saving some mula? Please share! Since starting up my business, I’ve turned (even MORE) into a money-saving & time-saving tip junkie. 

Photo by Anthony Toscano

The multi-talented, Über-nice Anthony Toscano took a photo of the Recordable Door Plaques I designed, over at a Hallmark store.

Thanks sooo much, Anthony! It’s soooo cool to see what you designed in stores!

So far, there’s been 2 sightings that I’ve known of on the screen. My Name Mugs in the movie, A History of Violence, and the My Name Sippy Cups on a tv show called Private Practice. I have screenshots of these somewhere. I’ll include them in the next “Product Sighting” post

I’ll have to head over to the store to see how they sound.

Since they are released into the world, it’s fine if I share some more pics:

The author is the FABulous Pam Strange, who is such a joy to work with ♥

I’ll be going to a book signing next week for it, at the Santa Paula Art Museum.

It’ll be on December 11, from 2–4 PM. I’m excited to go (free refreshments don’t hurt either )

Here’s the linkage as well as the address: 117 N 10th St Santa Paula, CA 93060 

✦ Happy Birthday to my Business ✦ Let’s eat some cake! ✦

I collborated with the muli-talented playwrite, Kim Demmary, on her poster below~ It’s a FABulous play, very INTENSE! Way to go, Kim!!! <3 She was also very generous to write a testimonial for me, so Thank You for the time it took to write it~!