We LOVE research and learning as a way to get inspired and boost ideas and creativity!! So, Kenzie and I are going to be sharing the inspiration that we collect here in our second newsletter…. once a week!!!

Here’s how it works:

We provide the inspiration. You interpret it however you wish… any medium, any size. It is meant to inspire lettering and floral art combined together. But, you can:

• Just do the florals, just do the lettering, or combine them together.
• Use the provided quote for your piece or select your own.
• Use colors from one of the inspiration images or select your own favorites
• Create the floral art… as a still life in a vase, a single flower, a border, a pattern, a bouquet

Hope you will create with us and post your work at #wordsandwildflowers2026 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

Quote of the week…

“The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.”

— Junot Diaz

Inspiration of the week: J. J. Grandville

Jean Ignace Isidore Gerard was a 19th century French illustrator and caricaturist who published under the pseudonym of J.J. Grandville.

Though the designs of Grandville are occasionally unnatural and absurd, they usually display keen analysis of character and marvellous inventive ingenuity, and his humour is always tempered and refined by delicacy of sentiment and a vein of sober thoughtfulness.

Grandville’s ability for political provocation made his work much in demand. He worked in a wide variety of formats, from his first job illustrating the parlor game Old Maid, to illustrated newspaper strips of which he was a master. His illustrations for Le Diable à Paris (“The Devil In Paris”; 1844–46) were used by Walter Benjamin for his study of that city as an urban organism. One of Grandville’s supreme achievements, at a time when French printing technology was ascendant, was Les Fleurs Animées, a series of images that are both poetic and satirical.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Josef Flejšar

Born May 28, 1922 Nový Bydžov, died May 17, 2010 Prague

He was devoted to applied graphics (poster, book graphics, coordinated visual style), exhibition and monumental work (designs for tapestries and decorative panels, sgraffito painting and drawing).

He was a member of the Association of Czech Artists and the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He studied at the State School of Applied Arts in Prague (1941-1943) under Professor Jaroslav Benda. After the liberation of the Republic, he returned to the Academy of Arts and Crafts (1945-1947) to the studio for applied and promotional graphics of Professor Antonín Strnadel.

After graduation, he joined the Schlosser advertising studio, later collaborating with a group of promotional graphic artists in the Tvar cooperative of visual artists, which in the 1950s merged with the advertising group of Josef Burjanek and Remo (Advertising and Fashion) to form the Propagační tvorba cooperative.

He was one of the founders of the Group of Industrial Artists of the Art Discussion, called Bilance after the exhibitions they held in 1958-1968. He was involved in poster design, book editing and illustration. He created more than four hundred poster designs, graphically edited fifty books and participated in more than two hundred collective exhibitions at home and abroad.

Many of his posters won awards at international competitions. Josef Flejšar’s work is represented in the collections of the world’s leading galleries and museums (MoMa – New York, Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, The Royal Gallery London and others).

We LOVE research and learning as a way to get inspired and boost ideas and creativity!! So, Kenzie and I are going to be sharing the inspiration that we collect here in our second newsletter…. once a week!!!

Here’s how it works:

We provide the inspiration. You interpret it however you wish… any medium, any size. It is meant to inspire lettering and floral art combined together. But, you can:

• Just do the florals, just do the lettering, or combine them together.
• Use the provided quote for your piece or select your own.
• Use colors from one of the inspiration images or select your own favorites
• Create the floral art… as a still life in a vase, a single flower, a border, a pattern, a bouquet

Hope you will create with us and post your work at #wordsandwildflowers2026 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

Quote of the week…

“Creativity is not the possession of some special talent. It’s about the willingness to play.”

— John Cleese

Inspiration of the week: Jeanne Lanvin

Jeanne-Marie Lanvin 1 January 1867 – 6 July 1946) was a French haute couturefashion designer. She founded the Lanvin fashion house and the beautyand perfume company Lanvin Parfums.

In 1909, Lanvin joined the Syndicat de la Couture (fr), which marked her formal status as a couturière. The clothing Lanvin made for her daughter began to attract the attention of a number of wealthy people who requested copies for their own children. Soon, Lanvin was making dresses for their mothers, and some of the most famous names in Europe were included in the clientele of her new boutique on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. One of her models Maria Minard was the grandmother of future French actor Alain Delon.

In the 1920s, Lanvin opened shops devoted to home décor, menswear, furs and lingerie. Starting in 1923, the Lanvin empire included a dye factory in Nanterre. Her most significant endeavour was the creation of Lanvin Parfums SA in 1924. Her signature fragrance, Arpège, introduced in 1927, was inspired by the sound of her daughter Marguerite practicing her scales on the piano. (Arpège is French for arpeggio.)

In 1921, Lanvin created Lanvin Décoration with celebrated architect Armand Albert Rateau. Their first design project was the Theatre Daunou in Paris, owned at the time by actress Jane Renouardt, a friend and client of Lanvin. In 1922, Lanvin collaborated with Rateau in redesigning her apartment, her homes and her businesses. The living room, boudoir and bathroom of the apartment was reassembled in 1985 in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. For this home, Rateau designed some remarkable 1920–22 furniture in bronze.

The pair developed a friendship. Rateau came aboard Lanvin’s empire as manager of Lanvin-Sport, designing the Lanvin spherical La Boule perfume flacon for Arpège, originally produced by the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. To this day, Arpège perfume globe, designed by Rateau, are imprinted with Paul Iribe’s gold image (rendered in 1907) of Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite. Rateau also managed Lanvin-Décoration, an interior-design department established in 1920, in the main store on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Ruben Toledo

Born in Cuba, Ruben Toledo immigrated to New York as a child, where he would later meet Isabel Toledo in an art class at the age of thirteen. Their shared background as Cuban-born immigrants and a mutual passion for art forged a bond that would define their lives and careers. Early in his artistic journey, Toledo collaborated with Elio Fiorucci, showcasing his art and connecting with influential figures like Andy Warhol, who encouraged the young artist’s endeavors. This formative period laid the groundwork for his future in the art and fashion worlds, eventually leading to his marriage to Isabel in 1984.

Ruben and Isabel Toledo cultivated a unique and inseparable creative partnership, each serving as the other’s lifelong muse. He often sketched her designs, and her architectural garments were frequently inspired by his gestural brushstrokes. Their collaborative efforts quickly gained traction, culminating in their brand’s debut at New York Fashion Week in 1985 and subsequent representation in prominent retailers globally. Their studios, located in significant downtown Manhattan spaces including Times Square and the former atelier of Art Kane, were central to the city’s vibrant art scene, fostering a continuous flow of creative exchange.

Toledo’s artistic practice extends beyond fashion illustration to encompass mannequin design, painting, and sculpture, demonstrating a versatility that has characterized his career. He notably collaborated with gallerist Ralph Pucci since 1988 on mannequin projects. While initially working extensively in black and white, Isabel encouraged him to integrate more color into his palette, a development that further enriched his aesthetic. The couple’s work achieved broader public recognition when Isabel designed the iconic lemongrass inauguration ensemble for First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009. Following Isabel’s passing in 2019, Ruben has dedicated himself to preserving their shared legacy, seeing himself as the custodian of their collective body of work and a proponent for their enduring artistic narrative.

We LOVE research and learning as a way to get inspired and boost ideas and creativity!! So, Kenzie and I are going to be sharing the inspiration that we collect here in our second newsletter…. once a week!!!

Here’s how it works:

We provide the inspiration. You interpret it however you wish… any medium, any size. It is meant to inspire lettering and floral art combined together. But, you can:

• Just do the florals, just do the lettering, or combine them together.
• Use the provided quote for your piece or select your own.
• Use colors from one of the inspiration images or select your own favorites
• Create the floral art… as a still life in a vase, a single flower, a border, a pattern, a bouquet

Hope you will create with us and post your work at #wordsandwildflowers2026 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

Quote of the week…

“When one door closes, sometimes we need to turn the knob to open another…”

— J.A. Tran

Inspiration of the week: Émile-Alain Séguy

Émile-Allain Séguy (1877–1951) was one of the leading designers of decorative motifs of the Art Deco period. In 1902, after graduating from the École des Arts Décoratifs, he specialized in decorative portfolios. He created motifs for publishers of textiles and wallpaper.

The portfolio, published in 1925, was limited to only 300 copies. The copy preserved at the National Museum of Ceramics has retained all the intensity of the original colors.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: David Hockney

David Hockney (9 July 1937 – 11 June 2026) was a British painter, stage designer and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was known for his vivid, stylized realism and championed figurative work, often in a bold style, during a period when abstract art predominated.

Hockney’s Alphabet is a diverse portfolio of works that draws together Hockney’s literary influence with his experiments in mark-making.

We LOVE research and learning as a way to get inspired and boost ideas and creativity!! So, Kenzie and I are going to be sharing the inspiration that we collect here in our second newsletter…. once a week!!!

Here’s how it works:

We provide the inspiration. You interpret it however you wish… any medium, any size. It is meant to inspire lettering and floral art combined together. But, you can:

• Just do the florals, just do the lettering, or combine them together.
• Use the provided quote for your piece or select your own.
• Use colors from one of the inspiration images or select your own favorites
• Create the floral art… as a still life in a vase, a single flower, a border, a pattern, a bouquet

Hope you will create with us and post your work at #wordsandwildflowers2026 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

Quote of the week…

“Strive to reach the highest.”

— This is the motto of Queen Kapiʻolani.

Inspiration of the week: Shangri La Museum

The Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design is housed in the former home of Doris Duke near Diamond Head in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Shangri La was built between 1936 and 1938 after Duke’s honeymoon, which took her through the Islamic world. Her travels in Egypt, India, and the Middle East inspired her to design a home that reflected the beauty, diversity, and craftsmanship of Islamic art and architecture. Her experiences in North Africa and South and Southeast Asia also shaped her vision of combining Islamic design with the natural landscape of Hawaiʻi.

For nearly 60 years, Duke commissioned and collected artworks for the space, eventually forming a collection of over 4,000 objects. The structure was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth, and Duke personally collaborated with artisans to incorporate Moroccan ceilings, Persian tilework, and Mughal-style gardens into the home’s design. Over time, she expanded her collection to nearly 4,500 works, especially ceramics, wood, glass, and textiles from 1600 to 1940.

In 2002, the building opened to the public as the Shangri La Museum for Islamic Art, Design & Culture.It remains the only US museum dedicated exclusively to Islamic art, and fulfills Duke’s wish that Shangri La be open to students, scholars, and others interested in the appreciation and study of Islamic art.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Souun Takeda

Souun Takeda was born in 1975 in Kumamoto Prefecture, and he trained under his mother and professional calligrapher, Souyou Takeda. After graduating from Tokyo University of Science, he joined NTT where he worked for three years before turning to the path of the calligrapher. Since then, he has worked on numerous projects, including the title lettering and logos of many films and TV programmes. In recent years, he has been expanding the range of his activities overseas.

Since his mother is a professional calligrapher, Souun Takeda first took up calligraphy at the age of three. He was brimming with lively curiosity as a child, always wondering why the strokes of a character are written in a fixed order, or what sets apart “bad” calligraphy from “good.” He often played around with calligraphy, loosening up the strokes or writing faintly on purpose.

Takeda studied engineering at university; even now, his mind is full of thoughts of atoms and equations, and he has a wealth of knowledge on the sciences. When it comes to calligraphy, it’s not as if he feels a compulsion to write. Rather, what he holds on to is his gratitude for and curiosity towards his existence in the present, a point in the long galactic time.