Hi, everyone! Thank you for visiting and considering partnering with me on Subscribe Star!

I am a varied artist. I write, design/create jewellery, and I love to create illustration and concept art. Some of you may even know me elsewhere online: I'm the artist behind Handmaden Designs LLC, the illustrator/concept artist Rilaiss Art, and the indieauthor Laura R. Hepworth. You can expect to see all three of my art loves here on Subscribe Star. A lot of my work (all mediums) is inspired by two things: history and fantasy.

What is my story? I'm the youngest of three and was born in Cork City, Ireland where my parents served as missionaries for 13 years. My artistic journey began when I was 6 and my parents and grandparents gave me a couple of bead kits for Christmas that year. Of all the 'hobbies' my parents had tried to introduce to me, jewellery making was the only one that took hold. It was my love of jewellery that lead me to enroll in GIA's (the Gemological Institute of America) distance learning courses for my Graduate Gemologist and Graduate of Pearls diplomas (both, I'm pleased to say, are very close to completion). I began writing during a difficult time in my life (both physically and emotionally) where I needed an escape, and the Lord gave me that escape through writing Miss Gemquist and the Pearl of Peking allowing me to use jewellery knowledge in a way I'd never before considered. It helped me cope where everyday at my part-time job had become a living nightmare. It allowed me to forget my pain for awhile and set aside the pressures at work from those that seemed unable, or unwilling, to understand the physical limitations I experience as someone who struggles with severe hip dysplasia in both of my hips. It was this writing adventure that then led me to fall in love with digital painting, an art form I'd barely heard of before and previously bluffed my way through years ago in college. Three very different art forms, yet all interwoven.

Life as an artist has always been difficult and it's not any different today than it's ever been. There is a very good reason for the well known adage 'starving artist.' It is the rare artist, and only after years of struggle, that can make their living wholly from their work without needing the proverbial 'day-job' to make ends meet. However, that is always the dream. 

I would love to have more time to dedicate to my writing and artistic pursuits, with less time spent stressing over bills, looking for 'regular' jobs, or wrapping my head around the ever changing intricacies that is social media and internet marketing. Your support would go a long ways to helping me with this. It would help take some of the pressure off of the 'everyday' needs and allow me more time and freedom to simply create. It means fewer hours spent looking for a day-job my hip dysplasia will allow me to handle, and more hours doing what I love. It means just a little bit more financial stability so that I can continue to bring you more jewellery, more artwork and even art resources, and more stories and worlds for you to explore.

So what does this supporting me on Subscribe Star mean for you? Besides my most sincere gratitude and the knowledge that, no matter how small your pledge, that you are helping me to reach for my dreams, you will also get inside access to all sorts of fun content. My Subscribe Star page acts as a blog of sorts for my art/writing and my life as an artist. It is somewhere where I'd also like to build a community with you through the sharing of my work and growing as an artist with your support and ideas.

So how does this work? It's easy! Just pick whichever support level you would like feel works best for you. For that support, you will get to see all sorts of content that I don't share with the public, along with, early access to news and new works! Here's some more of what you can expect if you partner with me in my artistic life journey!

Thank you!