Welcome! Thank you for your interest in Angel Art Pictures!  I've been an artist for over 30 years...my main medium was always pen and ink or pencil, although I have tried watercolors and acrylics. One of my mixed media pieces was on display at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  Photography, up until now, has only been a hobby.

But why Angels? And why cemetery angels in particular?  I've always found cemeteries fascinating places...so quiet, peaceful and mysterious.  As a child growing up in Jacksonville, Florida we spent all of our vacations in the mountains of North Carolina where my parents were from.  No visit was complete without a trip to the family cemeteries.  We'd leave flowers, wander around, read headstones.  When I developed an interest in genealogy, it was a great place to do research.  There's so much to be learned...life, love, death, history...it's all there, carved in stone.

But I don't generally go around telling people I like cemeteries! My husband Doug and I were on our third date -- a drive through the country -- when I spotted a cemetery on the side of the road and said, "Oh look, an old cemetery!" The minute the words were out of my mouth I thought, well, I bet there won't be a fourth date. To my surprise his response was, "Where? I love cemeteries!" The rest, as they say, is history -- we rarely pass a cemetery now without going in. We've visited and photographed them all over the south, but I really hit the "cemetery jack pot" when we moved to New Orleans.  In New Orleans they're called "Cities of the Dead", and they are simply amazing.  Now, when I enter one of those "Cities" it's to photograph the angels who watch over the permanent residents.

Like most artists, we tend to look at our work as children...very hard to part with.  With the "instant gratification" of photography, it's a little easier to let the "children" go.  I hope you'll decide to take some of them home with you!

-- Laila Mortimer