'Laurel' Design

I found Col through the loss mum community and scrolling through her work, I knew straight away I wanted to do it for my angel girl Méabh.

Her schedule was full and I put myself on a waitlist (I heard it could take a year!). Two months after, I reached out to her in the hopes that she might be able to fit me and to my surprise, she was able to! It was worth every penny, it was also worth the wait. It also happened to be delivered to me a day before my birthday - the best birthday gift!

Col is extremely talented, the portrait of my little girl is beyond immaculate - you can see how much time, effort and love was put into. We will forever treasure this beautiful portrait.

Thank you so much, Col. You have brought our little angel to life and we will always look at her portrait fondly, lovingly, admiring both her peaceful little face and this work of yours.

Thank you Col for the portraits of both my babies over the past years. You capture every little bit of their cheekiness and joy. The detail and finishes are just so special and we will definitely be getting one more portrait done for baby #3 on the way :).

My parents commissioned and gifted to us this beautiful portrait of our daughter, Addison, for her 1st birthday. Whilst I am a longtime lover and follower of Colleen’s work, this gift is even more special as Col (Miss Anderson to me) was my Grade 1 teacher back in 1999! And my favourite teacher at that. Watching her create her business and follow her passion for art is amazing and now I get to love and cherish such a special piece from her. Thank you for your beautiful work Miss Anderson. You have captured our beautiful Addi perfectly. Lots of love xxx

We just opened our Vera's portrait. OMG!!!! Rex and I were both in tears, at your beautiful art and your equally beautiful words. You got us good!!! Thank you never seems to be enough, but truly THANK YOU for her. You were right, the portrait is even more beautiful in person. Just perfect! You gave us one of our most special keepsakes then And you continue to do so 10 years on and 4 other kids later. I just don't feel my words do justice to how special your art has been and is to us!! Thank you so much Col X

This arrived the day before his first birthday. Words cannot express how much this means to us. You are an earth angel x

If I had to leave my house with only the material things I could carry, the 2 portraits of my twin girls would be top of the list. Don't settle for less. Col's a true artist.

After loosing our son in 2022, a friend reached out and recommended having a portrait done by Col.
Col is amazing at what she creates and takes the time to collaborate with you on how you would like your perfect portrait created
We have the most beautiful portrait of our son Ashtyn, it's hanging on the wall as soon as we get home as a reminder he is still a part of our family and we often get family photos Infront of the portrait which is really special 💙

I am so grateful to Col for taking on the challenge of creating this beautiful artwork of our little Albie. I have followed Col for quite a few years on social media, never ever thinking I would be requesting one of her angel pictures one day. That's the thing about loss and grief, particularly baby loss, it pulls the rug from under you, and you never expect it to happen, until it does. Unfortunately, there still seems to be stigma attached to early loss, particularly termination for medical reasons (tfmr). I've experienced it both as a midwife and a mother. There is a huge range of confusing feelings and emotions; namely that you don't have a 'right' to mourn or honour your baby, that you 'chose' this, that others experience loss that is much worse, you were 'only' x number of weeks and so on. The reality is, it is one of the most excruciatingly hard and painful decisions to 'choose' to end the life of your much wanted baby to save them from a life of pain, illness and severe disability, and that's if they even make it out of the pregnancy alive. This 'choice' carries with it the most monumental, complex, harrowing and what I imagine will be lifelong grief. Albie was so wanted and so loved, and I wanted to honour him in a way that respected his dignity and his life. I have pictures all over my house of my other children and it felt only right to include Albie in this way. Despite being just under 14 weeks, he had the most distinct, beautiful and intricate little features, and Col has captured these perfectly. He was buried with a little lamb toy, which we also have one of and it's these little details that Col was able to include that just make it so personal and special. I'm not sure I will ever be able to show how truly grateful I am to Col for doing this for me and doing it with such compassion, empathy and care. It is something I will cherish forever and allows me to share my 4th little boy with the world, and hopefully also help others to feel less alone and validated in their grief and desire to also honour their little ones.

Ever since I saw onesonnyday 5 years ago, I knew I’d had to have Col paint my future child’s portrait.. I finally had a baby and had Col paint him for his first birthday. I am thrilled with the result; funnily enough the portrait looks like a colourised childhood photo of my late great-grandfather!

You have no idea how much we love and appreciate you!