Anna-Vita Perenna
- Artist
Anatomist turned pattern maker - Writer
Novelist, Poet, now Blogger - Permaculturist
- Aspiring Herbalist
- Homesteader
- Homebirth Mom
Kids all grown up now - Radical Unschooler
Traveled around in a school bus - Radical Feminist
- Starting Over From Scratch in the Desert Off Grid – Bus is parked
- Wolf Dog Raiser
- Recovering Technophobe
Check Out My Designs!
Visit my Redbubble Store, Fabulous-Flora, to see my permaculture designs. I have some beautiful, hand drawn botanical prints as well as repeating patterns I’ve created from our favorite “weeds.” The Damask patterns really glorify them!
First, explore the designs, then see what kind of stuff you can have them printed on. I’ve got tons more and I’m uploading them as often as I can.
This is a Print On Demand platform. Which means there is no waste. Nothing is ever printed until somebody places an order. So you can feel OK about buying something that’s not used.
I love your About Me page Anna-Vita and am thrilled to learn a little more about you personally after reading so many of the articles that you have produced concerning permaculture and related subjects.
I also appreciate how you speak of having a clean conscience when purchasing your designs because they are printed on demand and your sentiment that buying used is better for ourselves and the environment around us. That same sentiment runs strong through everything that I do in relation to my own website.
Keep up the good work and it was good to learn some more about you!
Hey Joseph! Thanks!
Nice to see you again.
Yeah, I had a lot of worrisome moments thinking about creating “merch.” There’s already too much stuff in the world. But the Print On Demand model, at least, doesn’t create huge stacks of stuff in a warehouse somewhere. We can’t change the world as we know it overnight, but we can do what we can, aye?
xxoo,
Anna
Those are some interesting designs. Your freehand work is very appealing. I do love the vibrant colors and I am a sucker for butterflies. I visited your Redbubble store and you do have some amazing designs. I look forward to going through them more thoroughly when time permits to see what might work for my home.
So happy to hear it, Brian!
I still have a ton of stuff I have yet to upload. So check back every now and then…
Anna
I love all the things that you are interested in Anna,and I have a few common ones myself, especially the permaculture and aspiring herbalist. Are you totally home-schooled when learning all this, and so self-taught? And are the hand-drawn botanical prints in your store inspired by others or your own work? lovely!
Hi LIzzy!
Yes, I am totally self-taught. I tried going to college a couple of times, but my learning process is considerably more intense and demanding and…well…let’s just say I didn’t fit in too well! Ha ha!
I feel like I know a LOT more about herbs than pretty much everybody I may meet. But, that doesn’t mean I get to call myself an Herbalist. It is a vast…incredibly vast…subject that is entitled to a lifetime of devotion. This blog is a magnificent opportunity to research it! 😀
Nothing is created in a vacuum. The botanical drawings and patterns are all my own work. But I had models, naturally, and looked at other peoples’ work for ideas. No copying, though. That would be not only rude, but unethical and downright illegal.
So glad to have made your acquaintance!
xxoo,
Anna
Very interesting article. straight to the point. This is me and this is what I do. I love the print-on-demand model that you presented. The sample designs that you have presented are gorgeous.
I wonder if there is a way to know what psychological effects does a certain design do. I have heard a lot of things about how we need to take care of our surrounding including color and design as it has certain effects on our moods.
I hope I am not going off-tangent when I am comparing such designs with something like aroma therapy. Can such designs have a certain mood booster. For example, this design is for adventure, that design is evoke action, another design for relaxation. Could each single design have such a distinguished effect?
Spot on! Not a tangent at all! Something along the lines of aroma therapy is exactly what I’ve been aiming for. There is a whole thing about how color influences mood…light blue evokes a feeling of calm, yellow is to get up and go, black is depressing…etc.
And as far as the plant pictures go, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to surround yourself with the image of a certain plant, so as to be immersed, energetically, in it’s essence. I mean, the mind perceives images as if they are real things, so it’s not far fetched at all.
And for somebody who actually knows, from physical experience, what Motherwort, Stinging Nettles, Dandelion or what-have-you, does for their body, being surrounded by imagery of those plants would definitely have a subtle energetic effect. The imagination and the energy field might actually be two names for the same thing.
Thank you for you awesome comment!
xxoo,
Anna
I found this article to be quite fascinating. immediately getting to the point. The print-on-demand model that you described is fantastic, and I really appreciate it. The examples of design work that you have provided are just stunning. I certainly enjoy the bright colours, and butterflies have always been one of my favorite animals. I went to your shop on Redbubble, and you really do have some incredible designs there. Keep up the fantastic job, and thank you for clarifying some things about yourself.
Hello again, Pasindu Dimanka
Thank you so much for your kind words. I too love the bright colors!
Yes, the print on demand model is really great. It enables people like me to create tons of designs and offer them for sale without having to print out a thousand copies of each one first. That would be a total barrier to entry. But when a design is only printed when somebody orders one it’s amazing. The customer has a much wider choice of what they can get. The artist can go crazy making all kinds of stuff she loves. And the printer has a great source of income.
The next phase will be to do a proper eCommerce store, but I need to get this blog going first.
Keep checking back for updates!
xxoo,
Anna
Awesome work you are doing out there Anna-Vita: As an artist, what inspires Anna-Vita Perenna’s hand-drawn botanical prints and repeating patterns? How do these designs reflect her passion for permaculture and the natural world?
How did Anna-Vita Perenna transition from being an anatomist to a pattern maker? What skills and knowledge from her previous profession contribute to her current creative endeavors?
Hi Akumendoh
Thanks for stopping by and for your awesome questions!
I never would’ve imagined I would ever like doing something like repeating patterns, but I really do. It’s a cool brain puzzle to figure out how to draw an image that has grooves and corrugations that fit back into itself to form a seamless repeat.
I’m self-taught, as an artist, except for spending about 4 years doing Bones. It was an incredible anatomy for artists class where we built every single bone in the human body out of clay. First we made all the individual bones, then we made wire armatures to create whole skeletons. It was to learn three-dimensionality. But really, it was an in depth learning process about all of structure/physics, itself…without any of the tedious math stuff! Ha ha!
I always wanted to draw really accurately. This is fine, but my more recent pattern making endeavors have enabled me to loosen up a bit, which I’m glad for. It’s an improvement.
I’ve been into anatomy, biology, botany…Nature and all natural processes, in general…well before I ever even heard the word “Permaculture.” That did not become a research project until well after stopping and re-starting my attempts to make a living doing art of some kind, several times.
But life has a way of bringing everything we love together, if we let it, and are patient enough when it doesn’t happen immediately.
That’s what starting this blog really is for me. The integration of different parts of myself into a cohesive whole. It’s taken forever. I’m already 60 years old. But hey! Where there’s life, there’s hope! 😀
xxoo,
Anna