Words and Wildflowers Creative Prompts – Issue 40

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

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Quote of the week…

“It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.”

-Mary Oliver

Inspirational Artist of the week…Johann-Jakob Hauswirth 1809-1871

Born in Saanenland, he died in poverty in Devant-de-l’Etivaz, at the entrance to the Pissot gorge. Very little is known about his life.

Where he lived between his youth, spent in the Simmental, and his adult life in Pays-d’Enhaut is not known. None of his documents have ever been found. The only traces of him are to be found in the archives of the commune of Château-d’Œx, which refused him a settlement permit in 1847.

From reported testimonies, we know that Hauswirth worked as a wood cutter and charcoal burner around Rougemont.

He hired out his services to various farms in the area.

When he had time of an evening, he would take out his scissors and start cutting paper. He would leave cuttings as a thank you for meals he was given.

These would be kept as bookmarks for the family Bible or psalter, the lace paper earned him one of his nicknames: The “Grand des Marques”. He was particularly tall for the time and often stood out as he had to stoop to enter the low-ceilinged chalets of the time, hence another of his nicknames: “Trébocons” as he was perpetually stooping forwards.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Jonny Hannah

Jonny’s work is a collection of paintings and drawings, screen prints and lino cuts, with a passion for 19th century type faces, and the written word in general. Whilst working he will be attired in correspondence shoes, perhaps a bow tie or French workwear and listening to Charlie Parker, The Skids or Jacques Tati.

The visual language and pastiche in Jonny’s work clearly represents his interests and this in turn has led to commissions that blur the lines of work and pleasure. Folk and folklore are often inspirational reference points in Jonny’s work, but in equal measure so is ‘urban folk’ a more modern 21st century representation of the beauty of modern life. Two of his largest projects to date have been in the North East of England – one for Museums Northumberland, and more recently for Hartlepool Borough Council. He has worked for other cultural institutions such as The British Library, English National Opera and The Royal Shakespeare Company. Jonny’s set of 8 stamps for The Royal Mail celebrate the curious customs of Great Britain. Jonny has worked editorially for international broadsheets and magazines, and created numerous book covers for fiction and non-fiction titles in the US and UK. The Yorkshire Sculpture Park exhibited a one man show of Jonny’s work, and the monograph ‘Greetings from Darktown’ has been published by Merrell.