A Very Lillunia Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks!

As we at Lillunia move ever forward into the exciting world of independent business ownership, we are learning so much and want to say thank you to everyone who has helped and cared and supported and loved us as we grow.

We want to thank the amazing communities of mothers and artists and bloggers and designers and business people who have shown support, love, shared incredible insight and care.

We want to thank the extraordinary children who live with our art and use their vibrant imaginations to create stories and characters from our images.

We want to thank our customers and the parents, grandparents and friends who have shared our art with their children and decided that environmental education can be taught early and through the magical world of art.

We want to thank the extraordinary world of animal families that we take as our subject matter, who teach us every day and leave us in awe at the diverse and beautifully complex fabric of our world. And

And of course, we want to deeply thank our own families for their endless support and love. We are blessed and grateful. xoxox- Lillunia

M is for Meerkat

At Lillunia we are busy little monkeys these days.

We have been painting alphabet letters and creating unique and beautiful custom name-art for families and we have been preparing like maniacs for the upcoming ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas!

O is for Ostrich

R is for Rabbit

G is for Giraffe

A is for Antelope

"MORGAN" and "JAKE" from our African Animal series will be on display as well as a host of our art (modern, mosaic, classic...etc). We can't wait! And we hope we will see you there!

The ABC Kids Expo will run from October 10-13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.

N is for Nyala

www.lillunia.com

Loving What We Do!

We Love What We Do

We just received a lovely review of our art from Mommy Moment (www.mommymoment.ca) and we are very grateful for this. One thing was striking, the reviewer mentioned her daughter's reaction to the art now hanging in her room. She wrote:

"I know that Anya's Giraffes will be a part of our daughters bedroom decor for many years. Now she loves to say "Ni Night raffes" as we tuck her in each night. Years from now she may love to look at the Anya's Giraffe print and dream of seeing real giraffes like this in the wild."

There is nothing that means more to us than hearing from parents about their children's' responses to our work. We love animals and art and children...but at our core we want to educate and ignite children's imaginations. And we are finding...to our great excitement, that that is exactly what is happening.

Recently my partner Eve and I went to a trade show (7W baby & Kids Fair) here in NYC. For the show, Eve brought one of our mosaics: Sophia's Vervet Monkeys" http://www.lillunia.com/-MOSAIC-ART/Sophia-s-Vervet-Monkeys-p73.html. Apparently her daughter (who's bedroom they inhabit) was not so pleased about this. In fact, a bit of a tantrum ensued: tears, crying and screaming "don't take my monkeys mommy, don't take my monkeys!" At 2 years perhaps she is not quite familiar with the term "borrow" and was quite inconsolable.

Alas - her Monkeys have returned to their home where she can dream about them and their home far away in Africa.

Each time our art moves into the bedroom...into the imagination of a child we feel that; we feel a part of their lives and imaginations and this is extraordinary.

We are so grateful...

-Laura

www.lillunia.com

We Love Dogs (and cats and horses and birds and...)!

Just beginning work on a portrait of two amazing sheep dogs. We are so in love with dogs and all of their amazing habits and talents and charms. They bring so much happiness to people and families...we are just gushing.

When we decided this past year to offer "Pet Portraits" at Lillunia we were not sure what the response would be. Well, it has been amazing. People love their dogs (and cats and horses and fish and birds...) and we LOVE to paint them. We know how special they are and we do our best to translate that for people in a way that they will be able to treasure forever.

We are animal - passionate - people here at Lillunia and we know the amazing bonds that form between people and their animals because we share them. To capture the tenderness between a parent and child in the wild is a similar experience for us to when we capture the expression of someone's beloved animal for them in a portrait.

All we can say is: Keep 'em coming! We just can't get enough of these wonderful babies!

www.lillunia.com

A is for Alphabet; A is for Africa; A is for Animals!

Lillunia presents its brand new series of African Alphabet Letters. Now you can spell your child's name, while sharing beautiful, original watercolor art and teaching them about the environment!

We have just begun our journey and are very excited to be able to share as we create and develop this new series.

Have a look at the many magical animals we depict in our series and see which animals will spell your child's name!

A Alligator, Antelope
B Baboon, Bullfrog
C Camel, Cheetah
D Deer, Dove
E Elephant, Eagle
F Fire Fly, Flamingo
G Giraffe, Gazelle
H Hippopotamus
I Iguana, Ibex
J Jaguar
K Kingfisher
L Lion, Lemur
M Meerkat
N Newt, Nyala
O Orangutan
P Parrot
Q Queen Bee
R Rhinoceros
S Skunk, Salamander
T Tiger
U Upupa (bird)
V Vervet Monkey
W Warthog
X Xantusiidae (night lizard)
Y Yak
Z Zebra

Sara = Salamander-Antelope-Rhinoceros-Alligator

Ethan = Eagle-Tiger-Hippopotamus-Alligator-Newt

Anya = Antelope-Newt-Yak-Alligator

Brandon = Baboon-Rhinoceros-Alligator-Nyala-Dove-Newt

Lee = Lion-Elephant-Eagle

The possibilities are endless and so much fun! At Lillunia we are also pleased to offer custom work as well. If you or your little one favors a particular animal we will be happy to add it to our Alphabet!

Love Your Families - Love Your Animals - LILLUNIA

www.lillunia.com

Sharing Art & Animals

Sharing our love of animals through our art is what we do and how we educate our children about the world they live in and their role in our planet's health.

By popular demand we have been working on expanding our range of note cards so our friends, supporters and clients can send a little of this love to their friends and family.

In our endlessly digitized culture there is nothing more lovely than receiving a hand written note...quite frankly just receiving real mail from a human and not an institution has taken on an antiquated charm.

We love sending and receiving images of the things that matter to us; in our case we are thrilled to be able to share our art and our understanding of the natural world with the people we love...and we hope you will too!

Lillunia will be showing lots of new work and some of our cherished original pieces at 2 wonderful upcoming venues:

NYC Baby & Kids Fair @7W (7 West 34th Street, 11th Floor, NYC) 8/16 to 8/18, 2010

and

ABC Kids Expo @ ABC Kids Expo at the Las Vegas Convention 10/10 to 10/13, 2010

We hope you will come see us!

Love your Children, Love your Animals...Lillunia

I am so Confused and Happy Too

Lovely Friends... I am such a slow learner, please forgive me. Inadvertently I stumbled upon all of the wonderful comments (international and in the US) that people had left about our posts. I had no idea. Thank you.

We are so happy that people enjoy our discussions and quite frankly it is inspiring.

In preparing for a few big gift shows coming up, we here at Lillunia have been busy little bees. But it is a joy. We know what we believe in and we know how important animals, art and culture are to you and to the way that you want to educate the next generation.

Thank you for your support- we intend to keep creating art that resonates with kids and inspires their imaginations; that cherishes the natural world and pays homage to its beauties and its sublimity.

Thank you for journeying with us.

LILLUNIA www.lillunia.com