I'm not dead! Can't believe I went this long without posting, but now that the long and extremely stressful ordeal of selling my apartment in Brooklyn and looking for a new place to move to and actually moving is over (so many books and art supplies. so many flights of stairs!) I finally feel a bit settled. It's basically been almost a year of non stop talking to lawyers, real estate agents, banks, and plenty of stress and anxiety. NYC is a tough real estate market, so things got really crazy. But its all done, I got my new place set up and made sure to dedicate a little corner to doing painting and drawing, and I have been busy painting once again. Still getting the feel for gouache--I have been painting in oil paint since art school, but I really enjoy painting more than anything else. Will post some of what I have been working on soon.

But for now, I have restocked and updated my etsy store, and am offering a free 2.5" glass mirror with purchase of any 3 8x10 prints in my store :) I also updated with a Christmas card design and will be working on at least one more.

Check it out and tell your friends:

pin up zania!

Check out this lovely little interview and feature on me and my artwork at the awesome pin up zania blog!

if you were ever interested on how I got into art, conventions and anything in between check it out. also check out and like pin up zanias facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/Pinupzania

Post Heroes Con and a big etsy sale

Happy summer to all! After a busy few weeks, I am finally able to sit down and update.  I am doing a "post heroes con print sale" at my etsy store. All prints are now $7.00 for one week only. I had a few leftover prints from the show, so decided to have a sale. Check it out! I also finally posted my Pin Up coloring and activity book for sale!  For this week only I am also offering a free mini mirror with purchase of a coloring book.

My coloring book now available on etsy!

First up during this busy June, was Heroes convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was graciously invited by my friend Paigey, her husband Phil and Fenny from Little Asian Sweatshop to share some space in artists alley this year. I had a great time last year, so I figured why not! It was a really fun experience again, and compared to other cons I have been to as both an attendee and as an artist, this one is truly about comics and comics creators. The people from Heroes Aren't Hard to Find, the comic book store in Charlotte that puts on the show were also very nice and accommodating, and made sure it was a good experience for everybody, from the super famous to the not so well known (like me!) I would definitely recommend a visit to this convention if you are a fan of comics and creators with less Hollywood fanfare than the other big conventions. Last years show was a great introduction to Heroes con for me, as it was their 30th anniversary and Stan Lee was a special guest, so there was a lot of enthusiasm going around and lots of people in attendance. This year felt a bit more spread out and low key, but I still got to meet new people, sell some of my new coloring books, which I am glad to say got good reception, and I got to meet fellow ZaPow artist Beck Seasholls, aka Becka Doodles! It was also nice seeing Sarah Dyer and her awesome daughter Emily--she was the little girl dressed as Xena! As well as amazing designer Vivcore. It was also cool having my work recognized from ZaPow gallery in Asheville. All in all a really good time :) Again, I would highly recommend this show.

Paigey, Myself, Fenny and Lorraine Klimowich

My set up for the weekend

dark photo at the art auction saturday night

After heroes con, I went on vacation to Vancouver, Canada for a week with a friend, and had a great time. It was really nice to get away and decompress and take in new sites, fresh air and friendly people, and not worry or think too much about work, art and every day life. Plus the weather was beautiful, the air was fresh and the food was awesome (ok, maybe I overindulged a bit!) We did everything from whale watching to hiking and I have to admit I am a little sad to be back home! People were so nice there and everyone seemed genuinely happy. I would love to visit more places in Canada. Suggestions?

It looked like something out of a movie!

Now that vacation and conventions are sadly over, back to the drawing board to create new art! I feel inspired and refreshed, but that might just be the jet lag talking :)

Holiday Baking

I hope everybody who celebrated had a very Merry Christmas! I said I'd be back with some of my holiday baking, and while I didn't make as much as I wanted to, I did manage to make some stuff I am proud of! First I set out to make cake pops again, as I have for the last few holidays. For some reason, most of them did not work out. out of about 25 I only got 12 good ones! I also didn't manage to get too many good pictures either. Here is one from inside my fridge.

These are chocolate peanut butter with white chocolate shells. Luckily, the few that made it were very tasty and pretty too!

I really wanted to make salted nutella fudge but again, time got away from me, as I worked right up until Christmas Eve, and these cake pops took longer than anticipated. On Christmas Eve I went to my sisters place and we attempted to make French Macarons. We made the batter twice, and I am happy to say, they worked out perfectly the second time! We made them plain with chocolate ganache. Of course them being one of the most notoriously difficult cookies to make, the second batch cracked in the oven and did not look like the first one. Same exact batter, same everything! Our theory is that the oven was just too hot after the first batch. But we figure one good batch is better than none! Behold!

so shiny and perfect!! we are not sure they are worth the effort to make them from scratch again (but we probably will. hah!) but we are so proud to say we got perfect French macarons on our first try!

As for art, I am hoping to be back with a New Years pin up before the New Year :)

Hope everyones Christmas was sweet!

post heroes con

Heroes con 2012 has come and gone! and what a weekend it was! I was invited by my good friend Paige to come to heroes con with her and her husband Phil and be part of "Paigey and her amazing friends" The other amazing friends included Fenny from Little Asian Sweatshop fame who was also there (we bonded over Bojangles and white wine), and Christy Sawyer who wasn't present but her awesome wares were. It was my first real convention representing my artwork outside of girls drawin girls and it was a lot of fun! When Paige spoke about heroes being the best convention for artists she wasn't kidding. I got a chance to meet cool people like Stephanie Buscema, (who's work I have loved for a while) Sarah Dyer and her amazing little daughter and amazing designer Vivcore. There were so many others! I have to admit, I did have a "holy crap maria what are you doing here" moment. I kind of felt like a dorky new kid trying to get in with the cool kids! But everyone was SO nice  so that feeling didn't last long. Even attendees were so nice and polite and seemed genuinely interested and excited to be there. I met a lot of great people. It was really refreshing. New Yorkers can be a bit jaded and done it all seen it all bunch :p
Besides the actual convention there was some cool stuff going on. I actually donated a little tiny Batgirl painting to the Heroes con annual auction! I don't have any idea if it sold or for how much, as we missed the beginning of the auction. All the heavy weights of comic art were there so it was pretty darn cool to have been in the same room as them. Stan "the man" Lee was there the whole weekend! He was giving a speech at the end of the auction, and of course bing a rowdy bunch, we got shushed while he was speaking. Probably one of the highlights of the trip :p

 Paige, Fenny and I at our giant booth!

I did a lot better sales wise than I was expecting which was really nice, I even sold out of a few prints! The other awesome thing about being there was that I got to meet the nice people from ZaPow! which was great! I have been emailing back and forth with Lauren from ZaPow for months and it was so nice to finally meet her in person! I am definitely in great company in ZaPow. I got a chance to see art from some of the other artists and the talent level was high.

 Fridays outfit

I am sure I am leaving something out and rambling a bit, but all in all it was a great trip and experience and I am super grateful to Paige for inviting me, because I don't think I'd have ever done this on my own. We had a great time hanging out and it was one of those experiences I'll always remember :)
Now that Heroes con prep is over, I am getting back into my commissions and trying to come back to the real world :p

HeroesCon

Exciting news! I will be at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina from June 22-24!

 

I will be vending with the fabulous Paigey! and Fenny from Little Asian Sweatshop! I have only ever vended at New York Comic con and that was with Girls Drawin Girls, so I am excited and quite nervous! So many amazing artists will be there, so I am greatly looking forward to that.
I will be selling 8x10 prints, mini print packs, mirrors, original art and more, if I can find time to work on anything. Work has been busy and I have had quite a few requests for portraits which is fantastic and exciting, but portraits can be more time consuming and challenging then my other art.
See you in North Carolina :)

self portrait

Two posts back to back, wow! So I mentioned yesterday that my beloved cat Smokey passed away, and I got the idea to do a portrait of myself holding him. Unlike most cats this one liked to be held a lot! I have never drawn myself but I have always thought I should. I chose to draw myself in my favorite blue and white polka dot dress :)

Portfolio site

I finally have an online portfolio set up where I can have all of my artwork in one place! I did a bit of research before choosing one and I am happy with my choice. Check it out!
http://mariadanalakis.crevado.com/
I have a free one for now, but may upgrade depending on how much work and galleries I want to add but right now the free version is enough. I find crevado was easy to set up and add artwork to, they offer more personalization than any other free portfolio service I have found, and its very simple and very easy to navigate.

Obviously I will always update my blog and etsy page, but its nice to have a portfolio to show my work without having to go through many different entries on my blog.