Andrew Jamieson has been designing illuminated manuscript pages for over 40 years. From his earliest years when he first saw an illuminated book at the British Museum he has had a deep love of this artform. He also has a deep interest in medieval history and art and so finds no greater joy that designing and illuminating manuscript pages.

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Andrew's pages are unique and original works. He does not copy existing manuscripts but  likes to design and paint them in a style that reflects primarily the 14th and 15th Centuries. However he also creates them in more contemporary styles. It is for this reason he was asked to be an illuminator on the St. John's Bible in 2000 -2002. Andrew has a deep resonance with medieval aesthetics and indeed before he begins to create such works he uses a form of meditation. He has a place within where he goes. It is a landscape, that is softly back lit with sunlight, long shadows, a meadow thick with herbs, wild flowers through which a stream gently trickles and bubbles. It has a peacefulness broken only by a plaintive chapel bell some way off in the distance and beautiful birdsong. In such a place Andrew conceives each manuscript page.

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He can illustrate a favourite passage from a poem on a single leaf or he can produce a book as he did for Sir Paul Getty KBE in 2001, where he wrote and illuminated the Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson. 

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For three years at art school on a specialist course he studied medieval book production. He learnt how to prepare vellum for writing and painting. He Learnt how to mix 24c gold powder into a refined paint that can be burnished with stones to gleam like a burnished mirror. How to lay loose gold leaf on a bed of raised gesso. He learnt how to prepare and trim goose and swan quills for writing. Mixing inks and painting with tempera which he uses when the commission requires it. These beautiful minutely detailed artworks are prized by their owners for their uniqueness and are treasures to hand on to beloved family members.