Were you as charmed as we were by the mini love letters in this month's Cicada? Our July/August Spot Artist Extraordinaire, Ana Benaroya, can be found on the Web at www.anabenaroya.com -- when she's not fuming behind the slow-strolling people on NYC sidewalks, that is.

Where did you come up with the adorable love letters for this month's spot art?
Well, love has been on my mind recently, so I thought, Why not create cute little love letters that readers can strain their eyes to read? Straining my eyes to read private information is one of my favorite pastimes, and I figured everyone else also loves this activity.  

Describe an ideal day in the life of Ana Benaroya.
Well, let's see … I wake up early and go running. Then, after feeling amazingly good about myself, I take the world's most refreshing shower. Afterwards, I turn on my wonderful computer and find several extremely exciting freelance jobs waiting for me in my inbox. I work all day on these, and then the love of my life comes home to me and we eat dinner together and relax until it's time to sleep.

Where do you get your inspiration? And when inspiration strikes, what's the artistic process like for you?
I get my inspiration from everyday life, usually in the most random of places. An idea for an image will usually hit me immediately, and then I'll go about doing my best to recreate the image in my mind on paper. It never comes out exactly as I imagine (or at least 99 percent of the time). But that's how it works for me … it's either all or nothing.

What was your earliest memory?
My earliest memory is in my childhood apartment in Flushing, Queens, New York. I remember sitting at our kitchen table and staring up at a hole in the ceiling where a light used to be. Why is my first memory a hole? Who knows …

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be, & why?
I don't care where I am, as long as I am surrounded by people I love.

Do you have any massive pet peeves that haunt you night & day?
Well, I don't know if they haunt me night and day, but I do have some pet peeves and I will write them in list format:
1. People who chew loudly or with their mouths open. Chewing should be as silent as possible unless you are eating something crunchy like an apple or carrots.
2. People who talk about things they don't know about.
3. Cool people.
4. Emotionally unavailable people.
5. People who walk slowly on the sidewalks in NYC.

As you see, my list involves mostly people!

Thanks, Ana! We think Ana is a pretty cool person herself, though we’d never say so to her face (see last question, answer 3).

© 2011 by Carus Publishing Company