The Story of Vanja (sounds like Vonya) & her art
I am a musician and artist born & raised in San Diego, CA
I've been making things for as long as I can remember.
Around age 6 or 7, I took art classes from Mrs. Jenner.
I enjoyed going to her house once a week and worked with chalk, acrylic - all kinds of fun stuff.
At age 10 I started making greeting cards.
Always the entrepreneur, I was quick to make a business out of it and sold custom greeting cards to family and friends from age 10 to age 16. I remember my biggest order was a $400.00 order for some very elegant Christmas cards. Not bad for somebody who isn't old enough to drive.
Once I got a laptop, I started moving onto things like Photoshop.
My digital art started happening, and I made a collection of drawings that I call "Sugar Coated Truth,"
I went to school for Theatre, and learned to do music around age 16.
My love of music has continued.
Currently I am in an independent garage rock band called Little Dove.
You can check us out here: www.littledoveband.com
I started designing neck ties in 2018 and almost quit to go back to a "real job" when I noticed money trickling in from sales, and realized I had slow steady sales of a lone necktie.
I did the math and thought "if I repeated this 30 times I could quit my job"
I designed all 30 ties while trying to book my bands tour, staying up late in different time zones, approving samples. I came home from tour, all the ties had arrived, and got crazy shooting photos, editing them on my own, and getting stuff online.
I'm almost at the place where I am able to do art (designing ties) and tour full time.
I'm currently working on my next product line, which should launch in Christmas of 2020.
