Michelle Armas started painting a few years ago to battle the stress of her corporate branding job. (OK, she was an intern, but it was still really stressful.) She has a Bachelor of International Relations and a postgraduate degree in Graphic Design and Branding from the prestigious Portfolio Center in Atlanta. Michelle paints in acrylic and oil, large and small, abstract and sometimes portraits, too. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, daughter and two sweet doggies. Michelle works out of a studio in Decatur, Georgia, and loves to have visitors. You can find Michelle’s work in several galleries as well as in her very own shop. In Atlanta, she is represented by Gregg Irby Fine Art. michellearmas.com
I have gathered here an offering of other people’s flowers, bringing to them of my own only a thread to bind them with.
—Montaigne—
Faith Evans-Sills is a painter, wife, mother, teacher and doula. With over twenty years of personal painting experience, she enjoys inspiring others to manifest their most heartfelt ideas through creating art. Her art has been exhibited widely, included in multiple publications, and she recently began offering creative workshops.
When Faith is not in the studio, you’ll find her zipping around on her sea green bike, heading to the beach or farmer’s market with her family and constantly revamping their garden and home. She makes gathering inspiration through travel a priority and maintains a close connection with nature through frequent trips to wild places. faithevanssills.com
Photo by Tara Mossis
Flora Bowley is an internationally recognized painter, teacher, author and inspirationalist. Her transformational approach to the creative process celebrates brave intuitive expression and honors the connection between body, mind and spirit. Blending over twenty years of professional painting experience with her background as a yoga instructor, massage therapist and lifelong joy seeker, Flora’s art and offerings are infused with a deep sense of soul, passion and generosity.
Flora’s book, Brave Intuitive Painting (Quarry Books, 2012), is an inspiring guidebook enjoyed by both novice and seasoned painters and has sold over thirty thousand copies. Flora spends her time living among a vibrant community of artists in Portland, Oregon. To see Flora’s art, read her blog and find out more about her, visit florabowley.com.
Photo by Navyblur
Louise Gale is a British artist with a passion for color, nature, pattern and energy. She lives in Spain overlooking the ocean. Louise spends her days creating, running creative workshops and assisting other creative souls with their businesses. Louise spent eight years living just outside New York City where she found the courage to leave her windowless office corporate job and pursue a life filled with more creativity and freedom. She walks barefoot in the sand every morning as the sun rises and has a secret obsession for sacred geometry.
Louise’s mixed-media series Sew Hoboken is in the permanent collection at the Hoboken Historical Museum in New Jersey, and her work has been featured in many publications, including The New York Times. louisegale.com
Photo by Steve Mann
Alena Hennessy is an artist, author of Cultivating Your Creative Life and The Painting Workbook, and hosts workshops around the United States and abroad inspiring others to create intuitively through painting and mixed media. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Dwell, The Washington Post, Spirituality & Health magazine and Natural Health magazine. Alena also holds a deep passion for flower essences and other plant spirits, along with being a Reiki master and energy healer. Alena lives in the beautiful town of Asheville, North Carolina, with her champagne fox, Mimi Simone, and many other gifted playmates. She is ever grateful to do what she loves and share it openly and authentically with others. alenahennessy.com
Photo by Zipporah Lomax
Lynzee Lynx is an interdisciplinary artist who merges colors, cultures, techniques and styles. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, she is steeped deeply in the rich lineage of artists who merge spiritual practice, social action, world culture and healthy living. After studying film and touring around the world as a performance artist, she found deep soul love with painting. Collaboration is one of her favorite methods of magic making. Working with a myriad of amazing humans, including her five-year-old son, yields the most amazing outcomes. Lynzee lives in a co-housing community, teaches yoga asana, makes jewelry and creates all kinds of art. lynzeelynx.com
Megan Jefferson is a painter who has been actively creating work ever since receiving her BFA from Miami University (Ohio) in 1998. She has exhibited extensively and sells her work to designers and individual patrons. Megan’s work shifts in theme depending on the series. She loves to create pieces that have a focus on color-based abstraction.
Megan describes the process of her work in this way: “I let the process define the artwork and describe my working process as a dance and conversation. I place down some color, and as certain areas and shapes evolve, I will answer those happenings with additive or subtractive methods. This dance continues until each painting feels right. The result is thoughtful, intuitive, spontaneous and reflective.” jeffersonartstudio.com
Photo by Paul Burch
Este MacLeod, primarily a “colourist painter,” was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1968. After five years of training as a textile designer, she started to work as a freelance designer and applied her design specialism to ceramics. In 1999, Este relocated to the United Kingdom, and her art shifted to painting and sculptural figurative ceramics. She continued to study and obtained a BA Honours degree in Ceramics and Glass in 2008 and an MA in Contemporary Crafts from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham in 2012.
Este lives in Berkshire, England, and exhibits in the UK and abroad. Her paintings and sculptures are in public and private collections around the world. estemacleod.com
Photo by Carmen Phoenix Photography
Rachel Maroudas is an artist and intuitive counselor who specializes in flower essence therapy and intuitive guidance and stands profoundly as a sacred ceremonialist. She offers the language of flowers, connects us to the healing remedies of the plant kingdom while helping to weave the energies along the path of self-discovery and beloved empowerment. Essence of the Mother is Rachel’s unique line of flower essences infused with blessings and healing energies. essenceofthemother.com
Photo by Lucila Podesta
Lia Porto is an Argentina-based artist and writer who works in mixed-media painting and collage. Her work is influenced by travel and is characterized by a deceptively sophisticated brightness of color and light. Lia’s art has a complexity of mark making, diverse technical application of paint and uniqueness of composition that takes the artwork beyond the realm of decorative abstraction and into the imaginary world of the artist’s mind. liaporto.com
Photo by Craig Lovell
Elizabeth Murray is an artist, speaker, workshop leader and author of Living Life in Full Bloom: 120 Practices to Deepen Your Passion, Creativity and Relationships. She is passionate about nature and creativity because they connect her to her soul. Her goal is to celebrate beauty, connect to spirit and inspire others to weave a personal commitment to what they love, bringing purpose and meaning into each day.
She is best known for her work helping to restore Monet’s gardens and photographing them for thirty years. Elizabeth’s passion for nature and appreciation for beauty has inspired her dedication to diverse projects around the world. Learn more about Elizabeth and her work at elizabethmurray.com.
Photo by Vivienne McMaster
Kelly Rae Roberts decided just a few short years ago to set aside her sensible career as a social worker and pursue a thoroughly impractical dream: to become an artist. Millions of dollars in licensed artwork sales later, it’s safe to say that her tender style of truth telling and possibility-driven approach to life, work and art has paid off. Today, she’s the bestselling author of Taking Flight: Inspiration & Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings and creator of well-loved online e-courses. Her online presence is a source of inspiration that celebrates the collective journey of our messy, complicated, yet deeply beautiful lives. She genuinely believes that anything is possible if you take one baby step of bravery after another.
Photo by Lisa Newman
Autumn Rose went to school to become a graphic designer, but she soon found the need to express herself through the vivid mediums of paint, ink, palette knife and large, open canvases. “I LOVE color,” she says, “and I am not afraid to use it.”
She draws from a unique palette of inspiration, both in nature and nurture, and has lived fueled with support from her family including a romantic-minded grandmother, a literary aunt and her own mother who is a naturally gifted artist. Whether she paints love, yearning, drama or laughter, Autumn Rose brings a fresh approach and playful spirit to a blank canvas. Autumn sells her artwork all over the world and has had her paintings featured in The New York Times, The Nest, StyleBlueprint Atlanta and TechNewsWorld. artbyautumnrose.com
Iris Scott is leading a revolution in the world of artistic mediums and currently resides in New York City. Finger painting is fine art at her hands as she squeezes oils straight from the tubes onto her fingertips. She likens the technique to piano: “Imagine you learned to play the piano with a paintbrush, and then one day you set the brush down and began playing with all your fingertips simultaneously! Finger painting has been like finding new technology,” she says. “It’s so much easier and more dynamic. I’m baffled that everyone is not painting this way.” Iris paints any and everything around her and says that ideas are indeed everywhere. irisscottfineart.com
Photo by In Her Image Photography
Andrea Scher is an artist, online workshop teacher and big believer in the transformative power of creativity. Through her e-courses, Superhero Photo and Mondo Beyondo, Andrea inspires us all to live authentic, colorful and creative lives.
Best known as the author of the award-winning blog Superhero Journal, she is passionate about the sweet spot where creativity and personal growth intersect. She is also the coauthor of the book Expressive Photography. Andrea lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband and two sons. superherolife.com
Jessica Swift, a full-time artist, surface pattern designer and writer, is on a quest to inspire everyone on the planet to pursue their wild and colorful dreams and never give up. Her magically uplifting and colorful artwork is licensed by companies and manufacturers for iPhone cases, fabric, stationery and much more.
Her art and products are designed to serve as tokens of happiness—reminders that you need (and deserve) to feel good in your life. Her first book (coauthored with Michelle Ward), The Declaration of You!, was published in June 2013 by North Light Books. Jessica lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two adorable cats. You can find her colorfully creating and blogging online. jessicaswift.com.
Brooke Wandall is an abstract painter from Scranton, Pennsylvania. She creates paintings in a variety of styles ranging from mixed-media landscapes to abstract nudes. Her artwork can be seen in private collections all over the world. Brooke began painting in high school and earned a BFA in painting from Marywood College and a Saint Luke Medal for Excellence in Art in 2007. brookewandall.blogspot.com.