​​​​I’ve been creating DIY and arty videos for this network. There is lots of other beautiful floral themed content on the site, too!!

To subscribe…please use Code LoriS2022​

Click here to check it out

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​I had my first mentoring session this week with a lovely small group! There are TWO SPOTS still available on Mastrius.

I’m sharing all kinds of info about art licensing in my group.​

Sign up here

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​It’s last minute, but I have ONE SPOT left for my “Artful Assemblage” retreat in Milton, Ky on May 9-12 at a gorgeous bed and breakfast. It will be a BLAST!!!

Click here to come along

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​I will be teaching in Southern France in September of 2023 at the beautiful Perigord property.

We will take daily field trips into neighboring villages. So dreamy!!! Want to come????​ Click here

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​Hope to see you soon on one of these Artful Adventures!

XO

Hello Creative Kindreds!!!​​

It’s about to be a FLOWERPALOOZA!!!​ 

Are you ready for another challenge?? How about a whole month of FLOWERS!!!

I am co-hosting this challenge with Kirsten Katz Art & Design​ and Snippets of Whimsy.

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​Here are the prompts for the month:​

We are going through the Alphabet and giving you three flowers to pick from each day… or do all three together! UP TO YOU!

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​ The hashtag where you should post your work is #flowermonth2022

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​Here are 5 hints for how you can successfully participate:

(This is open to any medium, any size, any technique… it’s all up to YOU!)

1. If you do ALL of the daily prompts and you are creating something everyday… keep it simple and doable… like a sketch a day… or something that is fun and won’t stress you out!
2. If you want to end up with a solid collection of portfolio pieces from the month… select a consistent size and medium and have the paper, canvas or wood panels all ready to go for the month ahead of time.
3. Decide ahead if you want to do single flowers, flowers in vases, abstract florals, folk art versions, patterns or some other consistent direction for all of your pieces. 
4. Try new color palettes, techniques, compositions. Challenge yourself to experiment!
5. Have FUN and don’t put pressure on yourself! These challenges are all about PLAY and just immersing our artistic brains in the JOY of creating!!! If you can’t do ALL of the prompts… it’s NO BIG DEAL!! We just want to see what you do make!

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​We have some FABULOUS floral artists as judges this month!!!

They will be looking at all of the work at the hashtag and awarding fun prizes at the end of May. Click on each photo to learn more about them. They are:

Bari J Ackerman​​

Lynn Whipple​

Wendy Brightbill​​

Also… Carrie Schmitt will be RANDOMLY selecting someone to receive her prize.​

And Monica Michelle, The founder of Bloom Tv Network will also participate as a judge!!!​

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​We CANNOT WAIT to see all of your gorgeous florals!!!

Don’t forget!!! Post your work at #flowermonth2022

And help us talk up the challenge! The more the merrier!!

xo

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OMG!!! The creativity that bubbled up for the March color challenge was so impressive!!

A beautiful thing to behold. You made it SUPER tough for our judges to narrow down. You are ALL DESERVING for being passionate and talented and willing to put in the practice!!! WISH I could send each and every one of you a big prize! THANK YOU for joining Este MacLeod and myself for this fun Instagram challenge!!

Come back in May for my next one… co-hosted with Kirsten Katz and Kenzie Elston!!! Another fun one!

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AND THE WINNERS ARE…

( I will be contacting each of you to gather your contact details.)

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Where Women Create selection

The chosen artist will be featured in “What Women Create” Magazine.

Suzanne Breeze

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Hudson Valley Seed Company selections

The art they have chosen will be part of a notecard series featuring Dahlias.

@kathwaxman

@nullsie 

Vi Chung @bloomsandbreakfast

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Margo selections

The art Margo has chosen will be applied to a series of beautiful bandanas.

Lisa Coutts

Nina Martell

Shelley Aldrich

Atelier Aquarelle (Tereza Cimburková)

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THANKS again to this beautiful community!!!

This week I want to introduce you all to a powerful new business platform that I have been using to manage my art licensing business.

It’s called Artonomo and it was made by creators with art and design licensing in mind.

Artonomo was created as a one-stop solution to manage your portfolio and your business contracts in one streamlined, efficient place. I have to say, after years of creating and licensing artwork, my portfolio can get a bit messy and difficult to manage. Finding and archiving images, and cataloging artwork without creating duplicate names, requires a huge amount of organization.

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Artonomo has become my solution because it allows me to tag and categorize my art into an easily searchable gallery. Interested licensees can use the search features to direct themselves right to the art they want with just a couple of keywords.

Artonomo eliminates the need to gather and process art into PDFs to send to manufacturers and licensees. That saves me time and allows me to get back to painting and creating. There are features on my dashboard that allow me to track who is logging in and and what artwork they are viewing most.

So if you are looking for an easy way to organize your art and manage your art licensing business, I would suggest looking into Artonomo.

Click the link below to check out their website and schedule a demo with their customer service team!

Keep creating and stay curious, my friends!

Something really wonderful happened this week that I want to share with you!

I was featured in an episode of a beautiful podcast called The Creative Genius Podcast with Kate Shepherd.

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Founder of Morning Moon Nature Jewelry, Artist & Host of The Creative Genius Podcast, Kate Shepherd believes that everything that is wrong in the world can be traced back to a series of limiting beliefs we hold around creativity; what it is, what it does and who has it in them (or doesn’t). Creative Genius is a love letter to the creativity that lives inside all of us – Kate is on a mission through this podcast, to help as many people as she can to remember that we all have it in us. 

The show, among the top 5% of podcasts listened to worldwide (across all categories!), is candid, insightful & heartfelt conversations with some of the most brilliant, creative minds & hearts of our time – We talk about creativity, the creative process, limiting beliefs that keep us stuck AND the magic that can happen when we relearn how to listen to our hearts. 

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The intention of the show is to help people everywhere realize that every single person on earth has the potential to be creative.

We had a great time and I am proud of the conversation we had. I hope that you hear something you need to hear when you listen to the episode. Head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and listen. Enjoy! 

This week…I want to introduce you to someone very special who brings so much light and joy to the world!!

Meet Radiant Rachel!!

Rachel Awes works as a psychologist, art playgroundist, and author, who loves listening to the beauty in people and animals and all living colors—and she truly embodies color, as she is also an ambassador for the Swedish clothing company, Gudrun Sjoden.  She is currently finishing her fourth book, that’s all about tending to your heart in all your relationships. Her prior writing has been nonfiction prose, infused with loads of her colorful drawings, all designed to affirm the human heart. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and tortoises, complete with wild bunnies in her yard, and two dear sons (ages 23 and 25) living nearby. Her most tender and mighty hope is to hold up a mirror for many, reflecting a hearty truth of your boundless worth.

You can see more from Rachel at her website at http://rachelawes.com and her books and art prints at http://rachelawes.etsy.com. You can find her hosting monthly Instagram Live shows called Insides Matter (you can also see the recorded versions) at https://www.instagram.com/rachelawes/ and also at https://www.facebook.com/rachel.awes/ and https://www.pinterest.com/rachelawes/

You can receive FREE illustrated spring prompts if you sign up for Rachel’s (also free!) “Worthy Eyes Meditation” at http://RachelAwes.com/free-gifts.

We are doing something FUN together!! ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY!!!!

Since Rachel and I are both Gudrun Sjoden ambassadors, Gudrun is giving away something very special to two lucky winners!!!

Here is how you can enter the giveaway! You can sign up for the giveaway by leaving a comment on my Rachel Awes/Gudrun Sjoden post today by saying something like “I would love to enter!” and your name will then go into the random hat! (Rachel is also offering this same giveaway, so you could find her at one of her links above and enter with her too!) The winner will be announced Monday March 14 on our giveaway Instagram post and the winner will also be emailed. Good luck dear ones!

I am super excited to announce something special for March. Once again, I will be cohosting another month-long creative challenge on Instagram with the amazing Esté MacLeod !!

#coloricombo 1-31 March

How to take part in this month long challenge

Prompts are shared every third day. Use them to create art in your own style with a light and dark colour added for contrast. (Florals could be a great theme for some or all of your pieces… see info about Hudson Valley Seed Co. below.) 

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If you’d like to be considered for any of the prizes below, in addition to #coloricombo please also tag #coloriflori so we can find your work.

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Meet our first collaborator

The Hudson Valley Seed Co is known for their catalog of organic and open pollinated vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Since 2009 HVSC has been creating a collection of twelve ‘Art Packs’ each year – special seed packs that are illustrated by artists who help tell the story of each seed.

HVSC asked Esté to illustrate one of their 2023 seed packs and the search is on for eleven more artists to illustrate their next Art Pack collection. 

There is more!

The Hudson Valley Seed Co will also choose three artists participating in #coloricombo to be featured in a limited-edition collection of Dahlia-themed note cards alongside a work of art by Esté MacLeod.

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How to Participate

Create floral art with this month’s #coloricombo colours as inspiration. 

Note cards:To be considered for the note card set visit the Hudson Valley Seed Co’s Dahlia Collection and use the blooms as inspiration for your submissions. The three selected artists will receive $200, a set of notecards, and their name on the notecard and website.

Seed pack art: If selected, each of the eleven artists will be offered a paid commission to create an original work of art based on one of the new 2023 varieties. See HVSC’s website for relevant T&Cs.

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Meet our second collaborator, Jo Packham of Where Women Create

Jo is the creator/Editor-in-Chief of best-selling magazines: WHERE WOMEN CREATE — Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women, WHERE WOMEN COOK – The Heart & Soul of Cooking, WHERE WOMEN WORK, A Passion for Success; and her newest publication: WHAT WOMEN CREATE, Inspiration for Your Imagination. Jo has been a leading innovator in the handmade publishing market for more than 35 years.

We are so happy to be working with Jo who will be scouting the #coloricombo and #coloriflori hashtags to find an artist to feature in an issue of Where Women Create or What Women Create Magazine.

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Our third collaborator, Margo Tantau

Margo describes herself as a creative connector, counsellor, curator, collector and collaborator. We are excited about this idea Margo proposed: would you like to see your art on a scarf? Margo will be looking to commission four artists to create flower themed bandana scarves. When you participate in the March Coloricombo make sure to tag #coloricombo and #coloriflori so we can easily find your posts on Instagram. 

Este will be doing a live workshop session on 19 March with Margo. You can read more about it here.

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How the prompts were curated

Ten female artists will be featured in prompts every three days. The prompts will consist of three colours found in floral themed artworks by these artists. We are also very excited to be collaborating with three dynamic businesses that will be awarding prizes to participants of this Instagram challenge: Hudson Valley Farm, Where Women Create and Margo Tantau are part of this event. See details above.

To kick off the month of March, we are starting with this artwork by still life by artist Mary Fedden.

Mary Fedden 1915-2012 was a British artist known for her bold and colourful still life paintings. She was the first female painting tutor at the Royal College of Art and David Hockney was one of her students. You can read more about her eventful long life here.

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Colour Combination

This prompt’s colours are Rose Pink, Carmine and Warm Brown.

Create with the limited colours as shown, combine them with a dark colour like black, a light colour such as white or other neutral colours. Doing this helps to keep the focus on the specific colour prompt selection.

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Share what you create on Instagram with the hashtags #coloricombo and if you would like to take part in the competition below also tag #coloriflori (see info above.)

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You can also post in the private Creative Prompts with Esté MacLeod Facebook group.