For more than four decades, I painted words. My Literary Calligraphy® watercolors featured Shakespeare, Dickinson, Emerson, Thoreau, and many other great writers. Loyal collectors have hung my artwork in their homes and offices and given my prints as gifts. Art festivals across the United States have honored my artwork with myriad awards, and it was even featured at the White House Easter Egg Roll.

In 2018, my husband, Ron Ayers, and I made a major change when we moved to Prague, Czech Republic, leaving behind the professional art show circuit we dearly loved to pursue a lifelong dream of living in Europe. We have since closed our literarycalligraphy.com website and its associated Amazon store.

For the past few years, I've been pursuing another dream even older than my wish to be an artist. Instead of painting words, I now write them. Ron and I founded CSL Press, which has published five volumes to date, and I'm already at work on a sixth.

My first book, Flowers, the Angels' Alphabet, was named Outstanding Book of the Year by the Independent Book Publishers Association. It is now out of print. My second book, To Live Deliberately: Protecting and Connecting to Nature Through Prose and Poetry, describes how nature writing has influenced my life and artwork, and how it can help us all stay connected to the natural world. It is illustrated with my original artwork.

My newest work is The Language of Flowers Encyclopedia: A Three-Volume Illustrated History of the Books, Authors, and Meanings of 2,870 Flowers, Herbs, Trees, and Emojis.

• Volume 1 features 30 illustrations from my Language of Flowers Series and 10 flower portraits painted especially for this book. It also includes a vocabulary of flowers and their meanings arranged by name and sentiment, along with a selection of poems about the language of flowers.

• Volume 2 traces the roots of the language of flowers and sources of plant symbolism. It profiles the authors, publishers, and illustrators of 19th-century language of flowers books, and explores some other conundrums and curiosities along the way.

• Volume 3 is a comprehensive botanical dictionary, arranged chronologically by author, listing common and botanical names and their meanings. It expands the lexicon to include florist flowers and exotic species unknown to 19th-century writers and explores the symbolic meanings of 70 flower and plant emojis.

All three volumes are available online as eBooks, paperbacks, and hardcovers. You can browse and order them at my new website, SusanLoyWrites.com.

Your support has meant more than I can possibly express, so I'll borrow from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night instead: "I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks." We treasured seeing you at our art shows and are honored to be part of your lives. If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you at info@susanloywrites.com

With warm wishes from Ron and me,