Elizabeth Mericas was born an artist. One of her earliest memories is drawing in the encyclopedia set her parents had just purchased from a door to door salesman. Her mother, a painter, was not amused with her daughter’s crayon scribblings

Elizabeth studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and the Instituto de Allende in San Miguel de Allende.

She has worked in numerous mediums and loves working with found objects. Her husband, Dean, is an accomplished fine-woodworker and has been her inspiration over the years. A recently constructed state-of-the-art woodworking studio is also a driving force.

One of her most recent projects has been building a shrine in her Spanish-style home that is dedicated to the “Saint of Lower Electric Bills”. The small altar came about when she became frustrated that a thermostat centered on a wall prevented any placement of art work. The shrine makes use of delicately-shaped light bulbs as finials, along with Reddi Kilowatt and Thomas Edison memorabilia. It makes her smile every time she walks by it. Since installation of the altar, there’s been a marked difference in their electric bills.

Elizabeth moved to Austin a couple of years ago, having lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the past 13 years. For over four years, she was a food critic for the Ann Arbor Observer and cooking is one of her passions.

She became interested in fairy doors after an artist in Ann Arbor made fairy doors famous when he started placing them on storefronts on Main Street.

NPR picked up the story and urban fairy doors took off. Media articles on the subject have appeared in major newspapers and also the BBC. See www.urbanfairy.com

Elizabeth has an understanding of retail that helps her when working with clients: she owned a successful retail business in Ann Arbor. Her store specialized in architectural reproductions for the home and garden. She has also held positions in two of the country’s top craft galleries: Sixteen Hands and Selo-Shevel Gallery.

She lives among the cedars and oak trees of the Hill Country on Lake Travis with her husband and her beloved cocker, Emily. Their children are two old classic cars, and she and her husband enjoy driving in the countryside, stopping off at the Bella Vista ranch olive tree farm and checking out the award winning goat cheese at Pure Luck Farm.

Elizabeth wishes she had put the family encyclopedias to better use in her youth.