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

Quote of the week…

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

— Gandalf

Inspirational artist of the week: János Kass

János Kass (1927-2010) was a sculptor, graphic designer and printer, who also worked in film and animation. He illustrated over 400 books and was honoured with many awards in his life time including Hungary’s highest award, the Kossuth prize. János Kass’s style is a mixture of fine black lines and broader colour lines there is no mixing of colour, which is kept bold and singular. This is not János Kass’s only style of work, but it is very distinctive and instantly recognisable as well as being bright, fun and happy.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Natalya Balnova

Natalya Balnova is a New York–based illustrator, printmaker, and designer known for her bold, expressive black-ink drawings and richly layered silkscreen techniques. Originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia, she trained in classical fine art before earning a degree in design and printmaking from the Academy of Industrial Art and Design. After moving to the U.S., she completed a BFA in Communication Design at Parsons and an MFA in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts.

Balnova’s work blends fine art, graphic design, and illustration, often infusing dark whimsy, poetic humor, and a hand-crafted sensibility. Her illustrations appear across editorial publications, books, posters, packaging, and self-published art projects including zines and silkscreened books. In addition to her freelance practice, she has taught courses in book design, color and design, and hand-lettering.

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

Quote of the week…

“…Mistakes…are the portals of discovery.”

— James Joyce

Inspiring artist of the week: Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter (19 February 1877 – 19 May 1962) was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century. She studied and lived with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and was a founding member of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter.

Hand lettering inspiration of the Week: Samuel Welo

Samuel Welo was an American advertising calligrapher, typographer, designer and lettering artist whose work appeared in the 1920s. Scans by Gene Gable of many pages of Studio Handbook Letter & Design for Artists and Advertisers (1927, Samuel Welo). This book has 233 pages and is entirely hand-lettered!

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

Quote of the week…

“Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness”,

— Anni Albers

Inspirational Artist of the week: Pep Carrió

Pep Carrió (Spain, 1963) is an artist, graphic designer and book illustrator known for his exploration of the subconscious and spontaneous creativity. His Visual Diary project stands out for the inclusion of drawings, paintings and collages with recurring motifs such as heads, houses, birds, and other natural elements where he reflects human themes such as loneliness, search and natural beauty. In his work he uses various techniques and is characterized by a color palette dominated by blues and grays, evoking calm, reflection and melancholy.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Tom Schamp

Born in 1970, Tom Schamp grew up in and around Brussels. He now lives in the suburb of that same city. After graduating from the Applied Arts department at the Sint-Lukas Art School in Brussels, he spent an additional year studying Graphic Design in Poznan (Poland).

Tom has a long track record. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. He receives assignments from an international mix of customers, from the very commercial commissions over magazine illustrations to picture books. Over the past twenty years, Tom published thirty-five picture books, many of which have been translated in different languages. 

Tom has a ‘complex-naive’ style, often spiced with a touch of humor. With acrylic paint he achieves the typical color intensity. The past decade Tom paints the different elements of an illustration separately on cardboard, which he later scans to make digital compositions. This technique allows him to find the right rithme more easily and offers Tom the right balance between craft and technology.

Tom’s later work is far more detailed than his older illustration up to the point that his illustratons need a trained eye to catch every subtlety. He has a fascination for strange objects, little hand painted boxes, stamps, animal-shaped coffeepots, you name it.

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

Quote of the week…

You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.

— Dr. Seuss

Inspirational Artist of the week: Orla Kiely

Orla Kiely is an Irish fashion and lifestyle designer known for her distinctive retro-inspired, graphic prints based on nature. Her career began with designing hats and textiles after earning degrees from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and the Royal College of Art in London. With her husband, Dermott Rowan, she founded the Orla Kiely Partnership in 1997, building a brand that has expanded to include ready-to-wear fashion, homeware, and accessories.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Beatrice Alemagna

Beatrice Alemagna is an award-winning Italian author and illustrator known for her children’s books, which have been translated into numerous languages and received international acclaim. Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1973, she studied graphic design and moved to Paris, France, in 1997, where she now lives and works. She is celebrated for her unique artistic style.

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

Quote of the week…

“Mistakes are the portals to discovery.”

Inspirational art of the week: floral tins

I LOVE tins! I have a big collection! I find the colors, the graphics, the typography and the patterns so inspiring.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Mark Hearld

Born 1974, based in York.

Mark Hearld is endlessly inspired by nature, creating exuberant, joyful and vibrant collages. He is an artist and designer whose distinctive style is influenced by mid-twentieth-century neo-romanticism, the gaiety of 1930s modernism and British folk art. Mark Hearld is inspired by artists such as Eric Ravilious, John Piper and Edward Bawden.

Mark Hearld has an unbridled passion for making, and his extraordinary creativity leads to collaborative projects with artists and traditional craft makers across multiple disciplines. 

Collage is central to Mark Hearld’s artistic output, not only as a medium but as a process that is firmly rooted in twentieth-century art. Collage was a technique used by Matisse, Picasso and John Piper to introduce abstraction into their images. Mark similarly uses this means of abstraction, combined with his traditional academic training and careful observation, to inform his creativity.

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

Quote of the week…

“The world of reality has its limits… the world of imagination is boundless.”

— Quote from the movie “White Bird”

Inspiration of the week: Portuguese tiles

The significance of cobalt blue in azulejos lies in its association with the prestigious Chinese porcelain and its evolution in the painting of Portuguese tiles from the late 17th century. 

This color became prominent, often used in combination with white, and played an important role in the aesthetics and evolution of tile art in Portugal. Its popularity endures to this day, being considered a fashionable color for home painting and a lasting trend. Additionally, cobalt blue also played a revolutionary role in Chinese ceramics, being one of the most well-known tones in blue and white porcelain. Therefore, the importance of cobalt blue in azulejos is rooted in its history, influence on art and design, and its enduring aesthetic appeal. This color scheme has become prominent due to the influence of the Mudejar-style tiles, which King Manuel I of Portugal discovered in Seville, Spain, in 1498. Blue and white tiles have become a distinctive feature of tile art in Portugal and are widely used in the decoration of buildings, churches, and monuments throughout the country. The popularity and durability of these colors have contributed to their prominence in Portuguese tile art and culture.

Hand lettering inspiration of the week: Andrade de Figueiredo

Portuguese penman of the 17th century, 1670-1722. Some say 1670–1735. Andrade de Figueiredo was born in Espirito Santo, where his father was Governor of the Capitania. His work follows the style of the great Italian masters in its use of clubbed ascenders and descenders, and of Diaz Morante, the famous Spanish writing master, in its very elaborate show of command of hand. 

Author of Writing Book (1721, in Portuguese), in which we can find exceptional flourish work. 

His work inspired Ventura da Silva, a Portuguese typographer who published Regras Methodicas in 1803, who redesigned some of Figueiredo’s type specimens.