"They are like my children," Aznaran says. "It's hard to give them away."

Named 2004 Artist of the Year by the Campbell Artists Guild, the Sunnyvale-based artist has been a member of the Guild since 1995. No stranger to recognition and awards, she was recipient of the Guild's 1996 Artist of the Year award and was the guild's 2001 Special Award winner. She has also won recognition awards at the 2003 Santa Clara Art Association Annual Show held at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, the 2004 Art Museum of Los Gatos juried show and an Award of Merit from the Alliance of Visual Artists Art Fest 2004.

Her work has been accepted in numerous regional and national art shows in Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Chicago, Florida and California. The Washington National Bank of Chicago acquired one of her paintings and she was commissioned to do 10 oil paintings for the Peruvian Steamship Company's vessel named Huayna Capac.

Aznaran, who was born and raised in Lima, Peru, began drawing at an early age.

"In first grade I leaned how to draw shapes, in second grade I drew still lifes, third grade was figures and in fourth grade I was allowed to take everything I learned and put it all together to paint what I wanted," Aznaran says.

Aznaran continued her art training at the National Superior School of Bellas Ares in Lima focusing on artistic drawing and painting, art history, psychology and anatomy.

"Studying anatomy is very important for a portrait and figure painter," she says. "You have to know how the body moves to realistically show it and you need to know how the body is proportioned and the symmetry of the face."

She goes on to explain that a person's hand is typically as big as their face and that the space between their eyes is equal to the size of one of their eyes.

In addition, Aznaran took courses in advance oil techniques from the Truman College of Chicago and holds a degree in Interior Design from the Catholic University in Peru.

"My father said, 'If you are going to be an artist you must do something else to make a living,' " she says.

Aznaran has conducted several home decorating seminars sponsored by Sears and Lions Club International. And she acknowledges that working as an interior decorator has helped her sell her paintings.

"I know to paint more horizontal pieces because people look for things to hang over their sofa," she says. She paints in a classic style and uses many colors so the final piece can be matched to any decor.

In addition to painting landscapes and still lifes, Aznaran paints quality replicas of classic masterpieces, such as the Mona Lisa, and says her specialty is painting personal portraits on commission.

"In portraits the eyes are the most important element," she says. "They reflect the personality of the person."

Aznaran works with oil, charcoal, colored pencil and pen and ink and paints her portraits from photographs. She says she does her best work at night when everyone is asleep, the house is quiet and the phone does not ring.

"If you like what you are doing, you don't mind working when ever you have time," she says.

A sampling of Aznaran's work can be viewed on her website at www.egnalyaoilportraits.com. For more information call 408.735.8591 or email Aznaran at info@egnalyaoilportraits.com.