From the very beginning to today, I simply could not do this without the love and support of so many! I am most thankful to the Lord for blessing me with the ability to add to the beauty and joy in the world through the use of art and precious pure gold. A very special and heartfelt thank you to all of my friends and family who have encouraged me to publically share my art!
Thank you to my fellow artisans and gilders for your friendship and warmly welcoming me into the community of Fine Artisans, Painters, Heralds, and Gilders, you have my mutual respect and appreciation!
Thank you to my patrons, collectors and fans from around the world, you are all so special and important and I am honoured to share my art with you and to have space in your hearts and homes and love hearing from each of you!
Thank you to my family, especially Bubbie and Cole for believing in me and encouraging me! It means more than you will ever know!
My love and thanks to my two amazing children simply for being their ‘deer’ selves and for little things like helping me hold art that needs to be photographed because I have to get the sunlight to hit the gold "just right" to make it glow warmly in the camera, for being patient with having a mom that reads old heraldry books and manuscripts, watches way too many painting videos and for being gracious about having a mom that has a profession that most other moms don’t do! I love their kind hearts and lively spirits, and am thankful for their keen eyes, cheerful encouragement, and VERY honest opinions! You are both my most precious and perfect original masterpieces and I love you endlessly! ♥
My most ‘deer’ thanks and appreciation to my beloved husband Russ for his consistent support and encouragement. Without him believing in me I truly do not know if I would have ever had the courage to change careers and pursue illumination full time. He has been ever so patient with my late nights of reading obscure centuries-old codices and manuscripts until I fall asleep at my computer exhausted.
He has been a voice of kind reason encouraging me not to throw away projects when they are almost complete because I suddenly irrationally hate them and am convinced I need to start over, and for being understanding and patient through all the behind the scene fretting, happy tears, not so happy tears, crumpled sketches, endless hours of mixing and painting, panic moments, the drudgery of the “mid-tone swamp”, triumphant completions, surprise commissions, the mess of countless gesso experiments and serious vigilance against my ultimate nemesis - tiny bubbles, me skeptically eyeing the weather forecast because I have to gild, and so lovingly reminding me to drink water and take breaks when I am super focused!
He is also my best critic, has impeccable taste, and tells me if something doesn't look right... and he has been so sweet about coming home to a wife who is often immersed in studying old, obscure texts and techniques and usually has bits of gold dust all over herself and through her hair and for sharing our ongoing joke about “the gold and the colours"!
My Bear, a million kisses and all my love… forever and for always! 💛