I’ll start this by saying congratulations to both of you on doing the work to get to the part where you turn into the people that find each other and see it. My wedding day was stressful. A whirlwind. I was so worried about what everyone else thought or felt or if I had inadvertently hurt someone's feelings. I’m here a little early with this gift to, along with my congratulations, remind you both to really slow down and look, smell, and feel and take in everything around you. As you celebrate anniversaries in the future you will look back on this day. It will be what you remember as the start of your lives together. As more time passes, the day from the distance gets more and more perfect and even more important. This is the day that all of your healing, intention, and grace comes to fruition together. 

Now I have been stalking your wedding colors for months, thanks to Ryan M who got me Yevs burgundy tie information. Shannon sent me Celina's pink dress, and my favorite feature about both ladies is their piercing, deep violet eyes, also depicted in the painting. When Shannon sent me her flowers it was like a jackpot. The mars yellow, the blush pastels, and mostly her excitement about it. I’ve always read in astrology that the most beautiful and well proportioned and aesthetically sensitive people come from Venus, and what a match you both are. 

Two artists can pick colors that really represent the stability, softness, and magic in what will be your life. The richness and depth of the pallet without being too masculine or too blush is just perfect. Add in a bunch of sparkles and to me, this painting was an effortless joy to create. Honestly, I’ve been trying to get through all of my work as a goal, almost like a cheat day on a diet, because I was so excited to sit down and paint this. My paintings are frequency and movement without the heavy dimension of regular sight.  Separately and together you have brought me so much joy this past year. And I know how much joy this painting will be for your family when you open it. Thank you for choosing these beautiful colors. Thank you for choosing recovery. Thank you for choosing each other. I am looking forward to the art that your wedding photographs will be. It is my hope that I captured a moment of the frequency of all of your spirits in this work. 

Yev has always felt like a brother to me. Once years ago he took the time to teach me how to photograph my paintings. I will never forget that. To see you both come together, Shannon so full of love and enthusiasm, who always gets in touch just to say hi and express her love, Celina the violet-eyed angel just like her Mama and Dexter who also come to think of it will match the wedding colors. Shannon, thank you for treating me like a sister. And thank you both for treating me like a real artist. What a privilege. To see a family come together like that. We do recover, and we thrive if we simply allow the grace in.  

I hope in this work you can see the magic of your big day. The unpredictable movement, the grace and sparkle, the healing and grounded elements of what you all create together forming as one picture. The paintings are always shapeshifters. You will see things in it for years to come that you might not find again. I always love hearing what the kids find in the shapes too. I believe they are the angels that follow them. 

I named her “Free People.” Now. I always see that clothing brand and love everything but it is way too expensive for me. Clothing company aside. It’s mostly never that the name of a painting comes to me before it is signed. But you guys bring me a lot of joy, and to me joy is freedom. With true joy, everything else just falls away and in those moments I am free. 

So, for your wedding day, I painted this to wish & toast to you both every joy, every freedom to grow and change and do life together with the meaning and intention that inside of each other, mirroring back as one, you can provide and give to this world and beyond. 

I love you so much. Congratulations.