Hi, I'm Linzi,

I grew up against the back drop of heavy industry. But I was very lucky, as within and surrounding the Tees Valley is a deep history dating from the Anglo-Saxon period. After a short drive I would find myself immersed in ancient monasteries or abbeys, grand cathedrals, and Roman forts. This instilled in me a deep love of history.

I studied at the University of Aberdeen where I obtained a Master of Arts (honours) in History. Having spent hours upon hours pouring over highly decorated manuscripts, books, and paper scraps, I became obsessed with their beauty and the skill needed to produce such a work. Coupled with the fact that these delicate works had survived with such detail, not just hundreds of years, but in some cases over a thousand years left me in awe. I went on to complete a post-graduate, where I began to specialise in gothic manuscripts. I learned how the scribes created their ink and paint, how they chose what style to write in, similarly the style to paint in, and how they attached gold to the page and made it shine as it does. The historian in me just loved how they would place social, and political commentaries in the margins of the text via odd creatures and comical illustrations.

Out of curiosity I began to look for modern versions of these illuminated manuscripts, and found that they are rare especially in the British Isles, more so in Scotland. Rarer still were those including modern texts, sayings, history or folklore. So drawing on nearly 20 years of study and experience I created Illuminated Panda, and the Illuminated Panda Universe; not only to carry on this traditional art, but to preserve the techniques used for over a thousand years, and to develop them for the modern world.

Outside of this, well, this obsession; I live in Aberdeen with my Husband, whom I have been with since I was 19, and our elderly cat Sook. Most days she is more dog than cat. I enjoy playing video games on my laptop, (Final Fantasy 14 online, and Hades are amongst my favourites), listening to music and baking.