Why Black Squirrels?

You may be asking “Tiffany, why do you have some random black squirrels in a shop full of flowers and fashion illustrations?” Well that, my friend, is an excellent question!

When I first started Tiffany Ascensio Designs, my first stockist (Reflections Hallmark in Marysville, KS), asked if I could paint one of their town’s famous black squirrels. It was an absolute honor, as this store is extremely personal and important to me, and these squirrels are extremely important and personal to Marysville. Growing up, I would visit this particular Hallmark store and even got to help “work” there sometimes. It was this amazing beautiful wonderland and I could wander around in there forever. So to have my art sold in any store, not to mention this particular one, was a dream come true.

After I created the first squirrel, we subsequently added more collections. You can now find Santa squirrels, Halloween squirrels, Wedding squirrels, and more! I’ve even created my interpretations of their famous squirrels on parade and they’re available in Reflections Hallmark so you can collect them all! (Click here f you want to read more about the Marysville black squirrels and the squirrels on parade.

But the wildest story about this cute little squirrel is that a few months after he arrived to the store, a representative for The Beach Boys came in to buy some local souvenirs for the band. To my absolute shock, they bought a pack of my black squirrel cards for each of The Beach Boys. Since the team at Reflections Hallmark is first class and one of a kind, they even got one of my cards backstage, got it autographed, and framed it for me. (And you know the Reflections team is A+++ because the frame is even pink.)

So even though my main focus is florals and fashion illustrations, this little black squirrel will always hold a special place in my heart (and store).