Read last month’s blog to learn about Mary’s adventures in Australia. This month, our marketing team learned about Mary's time in Italy and her creative process.

In 1987, Mary had the opportunity to move to Italy. Mary’s grandparents came to the United States from Italy, she was raised by an Italian mother and she was eager to spend more time traveling and learning about her roots. While living near Lake Como, Mary was able to create more Pipsqueak cards with Italian themes. It was during this time when she decided to start her new series of cards with only animals on them, rather than children and pets. Also during this time, Mary met a very talented (and handsome!) Sicilian musician, Giovanni. The two artists fell in love and have been happily married for 28 years now.

Mary and Giovanni moved to New York City in late 1989, but still make annual summer trips back to their home in Sicily. Sicily is Mary’s favorite place to draw. She tells a very endearing story of a cat that visited the olive tree near her and Giovanni’s home everyday one summer. She would come and greet them, wait for food and then just relax under the shade of the olive tree. Mary loved the Tabby cat’s daily visit and decided to paint her under the olive tree.

Many of Mary’s designs stem from the stories of animals she meets, but many people send in photos of their rescued or adopted pets too. If possible, Mary likes to meet the animal in person so she can get a sense of the pet’s personality. After meeting the pet and talking to the owners about the pet’s rescue story or habits, Mary uses her skills as a portrait artist mixed with her spunky and fun personality to create her pawtraits. Our favorite example is the pawtrait of Barkus the Dog of Wine, who Mary met when he was recently rescued.

Stay tuned for more stories about Mary's work in Italy and more behind the art stories!