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 #wordsandwildflowers2024 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

We will be checking and sharing some of our favorites. AND… there may be surprise guest judges and PRIZES!!!

Quote of the week:

“Whenever you create beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”

-Alice Walker

Inspirational Art of the week… Continental Bride’s Boxes

In 18th and 19th century Germany and Scandinavia, bride’s boxes were given as a marriage gift to brides to hold small items in the bride’s trousseau such as linens, lace, and ribbons.

Hand Lettering Inspiration of the Week…

Spotted these hand lettered tags at a boutique. I love the delicacy of the lettering.

We are BEYOND EXCITED! Kenzie and I will be teaching together for the first time!! Our “Words and Wildflowers” retreat in Portugal … October 17-24 2025 is half booked already!!! Yay!! COME JOIN US!!!

If you are thinking about joining us… here is what you will get…

• 8 Days/7 Nights in a GORGEOUS Portugese villa in the Algarve region on the beautiful Southern coast
• Delicious meals prepared by our own chef… YUM!!
• A sailing adventure around the coastline
• An outing into the charming village of Lagos… where there are colorful buildings and inspiration everywhere!!
• Fun exercises in our own studio space that focus on handlettering and floral art…. Our favs!!
• Sharing of techniques in several mediums and styles.
• Laughter, sharing and (maybe dancing?? You never know) with creative kindreds
• Making precious memories and lasting friendships!

Imagine how you will feel treating yourself to this experience! We will go above and beyond to make to AMAZING!!!

If you have ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL or if you are on the fence about booking…please reach out to ​contact@uptrek.com​ The folks at UPTREK are more than happy to address any questions or concerns!!

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 #wordsandwildflowers2024 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

We will be checking and sharing some of our favorites. AND… there may be surprise guest judges and PRIZES!!!

Quote of the week:

“Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make your life extraordinary.”

—Dead Poets Society, 1989

Inspirational Artist of the week: Federico von Berzeviczy-Pallavicini

Demel, the oldest Viennese confectionery, was founded in 1799. They are admired as much for their decadent chocolates and candies as for the packaging designed by Swiss baron Federico von Berzeviczy-Pallavicini (1909-1989). Pallavicini was a visionary artist and designer, and studied fine arts in Vienna where he was strongly influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte movement. In the late 1920s, he was introduced to Demel by architect and designer Josef Hoffmann—launching his career as a visionary designer of wrapping papers, packaging and ornate window displays. Pallavicini’s work is consistently recognized by his use of lively overall pattern and hand lettering with a distinctively flamboyant style. His box designs with hinged lids seen above, are likely dated sometime in the 1930s.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: William Ellis

This exercise book once belonged to William Ellis, an artistic young student who was studying his arithmetic lessons. It was excavated in Exeter, England years ago and now sits in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum archives. Ellis began his book in 1729, and filled it with his calculations, measurements, flourishes and ornaments. He then hand painted the same three additional colors onto each page with great attention to detail. Many pages had colorful display headings with birds, flowers and medieval-looking creatures. His hand-lettering skills were capable, but “needs improvement” as any teacher might well suggest. Neatness was not his strongest suit. Exercise books in Georgian England were commonly used by school children to practice lessons plans while perfecting their art and valued penmanship skills. These talents indicated you were a literate person of culture and good standing. All learning had great value and was considered virtuous. Creating beautifully illustrated lesson books with polished hand-lettering was intended to honor content, while building good character.

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 #wordsandwildflowers2024 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

We will be checking and sharing some of our favorites. AND… there may be surprise guest judges and PRIZES!!!

Quote of the week:

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” 

— Mother Teresa

Inspirational Artist of the week: Leo Visser

Leo Visser (1880–1950) was a Dutch artist who created a number of calendars in addition to other decorative designs featuring plants and animals. Some of these examples the earliest, combining both flora and the fauna in a series of attractive Art Nouveau plates. You don’t see monkeys very often in Art Nouveau designs, for some reason they were more popular during the Art Deco period.

Hand lettering artist of the week: Maria Strick

Maria Strick (née Becq; 1577–after 1631) was a Dutch schoolmistress and calligrapher. She published four writing manuals, making her a key figure in the so-called ‘golden age of Dutch calligraphy’ (c. 1590-1650) and virtually unique among women calligraphers until the twentieth century.

Maria Strick probably learned calligraphy from Jan van de Velde the Elder, one of the teachers working at her father’s school. It was to him that Strick dedicated her first writing manual, Tooneel der loflijkcke schrijfpen, which was published around 1607. Strick’s elegant handwriting was skilfully executed in copper print by her husband, who had devoted himself to the art of engraving.

Maria Strick was highly esteemed during her life, being awarded the second prize in the prestigious Plume du couronnée writing contest, held in The Hague in 1620. In particular, her skills in the Italian hand were unequalled. Apart from the four known writing manuals, which established her reputation, she made calligraphic captions for art prints, and several handwritten specimens have survived.

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 #wordsandwildflowers2024 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

We will be checking and sharing some of our favorites. AND… there may be surprise guest judges and PRIZES!!!

Quote of the week:

“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” 

— Henry Ward Beecher

Inspirational Artist of the Week: Vintage Packaging

Hand Lettering Inspiration of the week: Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had been a student, worked as a commercial artist and served as a war artist in World War II. He was a fine watercolour painter but worked in many different media. He illustrated several books and painted murals in both the 1930s and 1960s. He was admired by Edward Gorey, David Gentleman and other graphic artists, and his work and career is often associated with that of his contemporary Eric Ravilious.

This week Este chose to use a beautiful illustration by the Portuguese artist Maria Keil who, alongside painting and illustration, was especially recognised for her tile work. In fact, if you’ve ever travelled on the Lisbon Metro, it’s likely that you’ve walked past one or more of Keil’s azulejos panels.

Keil (1914-2012) was born in Silves, Portugal and studied briefly at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts before dropping out due to her dissatisfaction with the course. She married the architect Francisco Keil do Amaral and joined the Technical Advertising Studio where she worked alongside a number of other artists, the majority identifying as Modernists.

The Portuguese had been a dictatorship since the mid-1920s and Modernism’s ethos of rejecting the past was embraced by the authorities. After the establishment of the Estado Novo (the New State, which was in existence until 1974) they funded numerous public art commissions.

Keil collaborated with her husband, who was the metro system architect, and created vibrant azulejos for Lisbon’s stations from the 1950s through to the 1970s. Her designs helped to transform numerous public spaces in the city and continue to be admired today.

Aside from her tile work, Keil was a prolific illustrator mainly of children’s books, and a painter. In a career spanning over six decades she received a multitude of honours. The Museum of the Presidency of the Republic organised a retrospective exhibition covering her work in 2013 and the Biblioteca Maria Keil in Lisbon was named for her.

Colour Combination

The colours for this week’s prompt are Deep Orange, Eau de Nil, Thunder Cloud & Mud. Use the #coloricombo colours along with any neutral light and dark colour to create an artwork in any medium and style. 

September’s theme is “Vase”. You can use this as topic and create in any way as you wish, using the week’s colours in any medium and style.

I love to see what you do with the coloricombo colours. If you’d like to share your work, please tag #coloricombo #colorivase and #estemacleod and @lorisiebert.studio on social media.

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 #wordsandwildflowers2024 and tag @lorisiebert.studio and @snippetsofwhimsy

We will be checking and sharing some of our favorites. AND… there may be surprise guest judges and PRIZES!!!

Quote of the week:

“Nourish what makes you feel confident, connected, contented. Opportunity will rise to meet you.” 

— Oprah Winfrey

Inspirational Artist of the Week: Hilma af Klint

Hilma af Klint 26 October 1862 – 21 October 1944) was a Swedish ​artist​ and ​mystic​ whose paintings are considered among the first ​abstract​ works known in Western art history.A considerable body of her work predates the first purely abstract compositions by ​Kandinsky​, ​Malevich​ and ​Mondrian​. She belonged to a group called “The Five”, comprising a circle of women inspired by ​Theosophy​, who shared a belief in the importance of trying to contact the so-called “High Masters​”—often by way of ​séances​. Her paintings, which sometimes resemble diagrams, were a visual representation of complex spiritual ideas.

Hand Lettering Inspiration of the week:

I LOVED all of the hand lettered signs in Italy. Very fun and inspiring!!!!