Hello! Thank you for visiting my "About Me" page.

I'm an artist and illustrator living in northern California. I've loved animals all my life and have been drawing them since I could hold a crayon. In the past few years, I've been quite busy creating pet portraits. It's a very rewarding process and I love the challenge of creating a likeness of a client's cherished pet. See the section below for more information about my portraits.

I'm a member of these eBay groups - click on any group name to find out more:

- Art for Critters (A4C)

- ATC & ACEO Enthusiasts

- Small Format Art (SFA) - art that's 14" or less on a side

- Art Squared (art2) - art in square format, 14" or less on a side
- All About Colored Pencil

As a member of Art 4 Critters (A4C), I also donate a portion of my art sales to a number of animal-related charities through eBay Giving Works and A4C supported organizations. Those listings will have A4C in the title and/or this symbol next to the title. Placer SPCA, Horses' Honor, The Sacramento Zoo, PugSavers Pug Rescue, FieldHaven Feline Rescue, Greyhound Welfare Foundation, Happy PAWS Haven and Sarvey Wildlife Care Center are just some of the charitable organizations I support.

find all the Art for Critters eBay listings

About My Pet Portraits

I work from photographs and, whenever possible, I take the photos myself. That way, I'm able to meet the pets and get a better idea of their personalities. However, when that's not possible, I can work from a client's photos.

I offer 2 styles (samples below): realistic (in either ink on scratchboard or mixed media on Claybord) or interpretive (in watercolor on Yupo, a synthetic paper). I call the interpretive pieces my "Paintings with Petzazz".

I also accept commissions for graphite pencil pet portraits in ACEO format (2.5" x 3.5").
This is a sample:

I graduated from CSU, Sacramento, with a bachelor's degree in biology, and I’m a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI). I’m also a member of the Auburn Old Town Gallery where my original drawings & paintings, prints and note cards are available. As a participant in the annual Autumn Art Studios Tour, I offer demonstrations of my drawing techniques and discuss my artwork. My art has won awards in both regional and national shows. I also teach pen & ink and scratchboard classes.

Although the bulk of my time is spent on pet portraits, I’ve also created illustrations for a variety of local organizations and I work on some web design and logo/graphic design projects.

You can visit my web sites (designed & maintained by me) at www.annran.com and www.petportraitsbyann.com where you can learn more about commissioning a portrait and see lots of samples of my work. I also have shops at CafePress (cafepress.com/annran) and Zazzle (zazzle.com/annran*) with a selection of merchandise featuring my Petzazz art. Check out my blog where I'll list my latest ACEOs and other work; you can also sign up to receive updates when I post something new.

I have Squidoo lenses that promote my art and that of others: squidoo.com/petportraitsbyann and squidoo.com/buyannsart (this one features info about buying art online) are just two of them.

Check out this September '07 article about me that ran in the Sacramento Bee!

 

    

First place in Scratchboard, Third place in Animals/Domestic and Finalist in Fun/Humorous
in the 2008 Year's Best ACEO Awards, sponsored by ACEO Addix


Second place in Mixed Media in the 2008 Artists' Choice Awards