MOVEMENT SEQUENCES

I’ve never been able to sit still for very long, and if you’ve ever watched me paint, you’ve probably noticed I like to dance my way across the canvas. I made a little video to offer you a Mini Movement Exercise to play with right now!

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My Favorite Soulful Gifts From the Heart

If you’re looking for gifts that are incredible to receive, while directly supporting the makers, doers, and creators behind them, I’ve got some ideas for you! Supporting artists and changemakers who spark inspiration, catalyze change, and create products that soothe the soul feels like an act of love and justice in itself, and I’m happy to share some of my personal favorites with you here.

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#ARTISTSFOR LOVE

In the wake of last week’s election results, a couple of my artist friends gathered together. Collectively, we were reeling from all the emotions, and asking each other, “What can we do? How can we make a difference? How can we, as artists, stand for inclusivity and love when such intense hate and fear is sweeping the nation?”

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CREATIVE BUSINESS WITH HEART

September’s Diary is all about Creative Business with Heart. In this Diary, we’ll dive into my favorite practical and intuitive tools to support a soulful, sustainable and successful creative business.

Every Diary also includes a special Diving Deeper Podcast where I share my thoughts on questions from the Studio Diaries community. The podcast this month is SO full of great questions about creative business, I’m happy to share the entire recording with you right here. Enjoy!

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HOW TO NAVIGATE UNSOLICITED FEEDBACK

In this week’s Hey Flora, I answer a question from Grace, who writes in about the delicate dynamic of receiving unsolicited feedback.

Has this ever happened to you?

Someone sees your painting and spontaneously begins to offer tips, critiques, and ideas. Sometimes this advice is absolutely welcome, and sometimes — not so much.

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HOW TO FINISH A PAINTING

I often hear people say that FINISHING their intuitive paintings is the hardest part of the process. And I totally get it. I would LOVE to help you all with this, so in this week’s Hey Flora episode, I’m offering up a few helpful tips about finishing intuitive paintings.

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INTUTIVE PAINTING ON CREATIVEBUG!

Friends. I’ve been keeping this excitement under wraps for awhile, but today is the day I finally get to share it with you!

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of filming a three-part Intuitive Painting class in my Portland studio with the fine folks from Creativebug, and my first class is launching today!

If you’re not already in the know, allow me to fill you in on the sweetest deal ever. This awesome site offers you access to hundreds of art classes for just $4.95/month…

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QUICK TIPS FOR SETTING UP YOUR PAINTING SPACE

If you’ve ever thought, “I can’t paint, because I don’t have the space to paint,” it’s time to get creative with your creative space!

Consider where you might be able to carve out a little space for yourself?

Do you have an extra room, garage, patio, basement or attic? Perhaps you have a friend who could easily lend you a little extra space or happily go in on renting a shared space?

Even if you’re painting on a kitchen table, in the corner of your bedroom, or in your backyard, cultivating physical space in order to create is one of the most powerful things you can do to support your creative habit.

In this week’s Hey Flora episode, I’m sharing a few basic tips to help you get your painting space up and running. One of these tips took me YEARS to figure out, so I’m thrilled to pass it along and save you some time!

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HOW CREATIVITY HEALS: A CONVERSATION WITH SHILOH SOPHIA

I recently had the honor of meeting teacher, artist, poet and founder of Intentional Creativity, Shiloh Sophia. I’m guessing many of you already know Shiloh, but if not, I’m honored to make the introduction.

About a month ago, Shiloh was in Portland teaching a workshop in my studio, so of course I had to steal her away to record a couple of couch chats in my living room. As suspected, we hit it off like dear old friends.

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LETTING GO WHAT YOU LIKE TO MAKE ROOM FOR WHAT YOU LOVE + OTHER TIPS ON LAYERING

I love how this week’s Hey Flora question is disguised as a painting question, but can actually be applied to life in so many ways.

Our question comes from a Studio Diaries participant, and she writes:

“I have a hard time simplifying. The first layers are pretty chaotic, and then I feel like I just paint over them. How do I simplify without just painting over everything.”

This is a great question for anyone who paints in layers or anyone who struggles with simplification in life off the canvas! In this video I offer a few super simple tips about the magic of translucent paint, letting go of what you like, focusing on what you love, and working with what’s working.

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FINDING INSPIRATION

Besides, “What kind of dog is Pearl?” there are two questions I hear on a regular basis:

“Where do you find inspiration, and how do you stay inspired?”

I could happily riff on these gems for days, but I’ll keep it clear and to the point in this week’s Hey Flora Episode.

And by the way, Peal is a Maremma Sheepdog! 🙂

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HOW THE HECK DO YOU TITLE A PAINTING?

Hi everyone! In this week’s Hey Flora: Weekly Tidbits for Your Creative Adventure, I’m answering the question, “How do you title your paintings?” from Elias.

While there is certainly no formula for how to choose a title for a painting (in fact, titling your paintings is totally optional!), I’m happy to share a few of my own tricks for what can sometimes feel like tricky territory.

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CREATIVE REVOLUTION PRE-ORDER GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

We’re Kinda Blown Away Over Here.

Thanks to you, my second book, Creative Revolution: Personal Transformation through Brave Intuitive Painting, has been sitting at the TOP of the “Hot New Releases in Acrylic Painting” list for the last two weeks!

Seriously you guys, what an honor. THANK YOU for trusting in this new vision and for pre-ordering the book months in advance. I cannot wait till you have it in your hot little hands.

As a tiny token of my appreciation, I’m happy to send love-packed boxes of Flora goodies to these three awesome Giveaway winners:

JACKIE WOOD + JOANNA PRICE + LOUISE WARD. CONGRATS TO YOU ALL!

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MANIFESTING YOUR CREATIVE DREAM TRIBE

Hi everyone! In this week’s Hey Flora: Weekly Tidbits for Your Creative Adventure, I’m sharing my thoughts on how to manifest the dreamiest creative community you can imagine.

If you’ve ever dreamed of attending super inspiring art gatherings or longed for more connection with like-hearted creatives, check this one out.

It’s actually easier than you think!

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BUSTING THE STARVING ARTIST MYTH

In this week’s Hey Flora: Weekly Tidbits for Your Creative Adventure, I’m sharing a few insights into how I was able to make money from my art in the early days of my career.

If starting a business as an artist feels overwhelming or straight up impossible, this one’s for you!

For more in-depth conversations about art, biz and busting the starving artist myth, head on over to my Press Page, and scroll down to the bottom of the page for interviews. I recommend starting with The Creative Entrepreneur, Luna Jaffe, and the Abundant Artist!

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INTRODUCING HEY FLORA: WEEKLY TIDBITS FOR YOUR CREATIVE ADVENTURE!

I’m embarking on a fun new offering called, Hey Flora: Weekly Tidbits for Your Creative Adventure, and I’m happy to share the very first episode with you today!

In each Hey Flora episode, I’ll answer one burning (or not so burning) question about my Brave Intuitive Painting process or creative entrepreneurship. I’ll share these short videos each Monday’s through my News, Art, Love newsletter.

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ADDING POP TO YOUR PAINTINGS!

Ever wonder how to get more dynamic POP in your paintings?

Well, you’re in luck!

In this month’s Studio Diary, I get all kinds of geeky over the many ways dynamic contrast can breathe life into a painting.

For example, playing with dynamic color, value, mark, texture, size, shape, mood, speed, materials, and scale (whew!) can all add a potent visual spark to make your paintings SING.

This month’s Diary is packed with fresh creative exercises, painting videos, an awesome interview with painter, Jeremy Szopinski, ideas for exploring contrast in everyday life, and so much more.

With an abundance of creative exercises, I’m happy to pass along one of the full-length videos for you to enjoy right now. This exercise offers some super easy and fun ways to explore Color Contrast.

I hope you enjoy it!

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NEW COLLABORATIVE PAINTING VIDEO

We’re exploring Collaboration over in Studio Diaries this month, and there are some seriously cool creations happening between parents, kids, partners, friends and pretty much anybody who is willing to play with paint.

It totally warms my heart to know so many people are connecting to their families and communities through the creative process — the world certainly needs more of this right now.

To give you a glimpse into this month’s Studio Diary, I’ve put together a really fun little video clip of one of the collaborations I did with fellow painter, Jennifer Mercede.

I hope it inspires some collaborative paint flinging of your own!

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TALKING SHOP WITH MATI ROSE

Ever wonder how to find your creative community or what “creative community” actually looks like? If so, you’re definitely not alone. I think it’s safe to say that most creative folks crave community in one form or another. For me, community has always been super important. In fact, I’d go so far as to say surrounding myself…

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FINDING YOUR OWN STYLE – SAMPLE VIDEO!

This month’s Studio Diary is all about finding your own style (aka a super hot topic), and so many unique paintings are being born as a result!

Seriously ya’ll, good stuff is happening, and I couldn’t be more proud of all the folks who are really embracing this theme and discovering their own style along the way.

To get more of a feel for the videos, I’m happy to offer you a four clips from this month’s Creative Exercises. To watch the sample videos, simply click the images below and enjoy!

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NEW VIDEOS + THE CREATIVE ACCELERATOR

GREETINGS! It was great to see how many of you enjoyed the Free Color Mixing video I posted a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d share a couple more videos with you today. These are two mini clips from the January edition of Studio Diaries. The first is from a Creative Exercise all about finding new tools and…

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JANUARY STUDIO DIARY + FREE COLOR MIXING VIDEO

One of my favorite ways to explore new territory and keep things interesting is to mix up my own new colors.

In one of this month’s videos, I share a few super easy tips on how to mix your own colors. Mixing colors is such an awesome way to keep the spark of inspiration alive in your work. It’s also a powerful way to set your paintings apart with colors that are all your own.

I’m happy to give you an idea of what you will find in each Studio Diary by offering you a free peek at this month’s Color Mixing video.

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LESSONS IN LOVE + A CAREGIVERS GIVEAWAY (WINNERS ANNOUNCED!)

I RECENTLY CAME ACROSS THIS QUOTE, AND IT REALLY HIT HOME.

I thought, “This is it. This is what it means to really love. It is art of the highest order.”

If you have been following along with me on Facebook and Instagram recently, you know I have been sharing a deeply personal story — a story of love. My dear friend and professional photographer, Tara Morris, also documented my journey in this beautiful and intimate blog post.

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TRIBE Tuesday: Jane Mant

Today’s TRIBE Tuesday features an inspiring story by Jane Mant.

I had the pleasure of spending a beautiful week painting with Jane last year in Bali, and I’m thrilled to share her work and her awesome story of “finding tribe” with you here today!

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