Artist of the month October
Lena @letterflight
Lena Pflug / 29 years / handlettering and watercolor artist & customer consultant / Nuremberg
That's me in five words:
Warm, open, adventurous, loving and pragmatic
Interview
What role does being creative play in your everyday life? Are you creative in other ways besides watercolor and lettering?
Being creative is an integral part of my everyday life. As soon as I have a free minute, I grab pen and brush and start creating.
I can switch off, clear my head and relax :)
It's just really good for me!
Besides lettering & watercolor, I also love to try new creative things. In October, for example, I'm attending a workshop on crocheting headbands.
You travel to a desert island and are only allowed to take one pen/brush/color with you - what do you choose?
That's actually very easy for me! I would never want to do without my beloved Tombow Fudenosuke hard tip.
It's the first pen I really learned lettering with and since then it's always in my luggage and a guarantee for good results.
Where do you find the most inspiration?
I find a lot of inspiration in everyday things. For example, when I see a delicious cake with pretty candles at a birthday party, I sometimes think "oh, that would make a pretty card!".
But I also like to use Pinterest or Instagram to get inspired. I just have to be careful that I don't get lost in the abundance of ideas and therefore often set myself time limits.
Because otherwise I sometimes end up with recipes for homemade cat food (I don't have a cat), although I was looking for a birthday saying.
How did you manage to find your own style?
Once I had internalized the basics, it helped me a lot to detach myself from the templates of others and to create my own sayings and cards - without a template.
This may have taken a few more attempts, but it brought me a big step closer to my style - because the result was then 100% me.
Do you sometimes have a "crea-low" and if so - what do you do about it?
I think that a little crea-low in between is absolutely part of it.
It helps me to take a break and do other things, for example cook something delicious
or go for a hike again. After a while, the ideas come back all by themselves and it feels much easier again.
I never try to force anything here, because the first priority is that it should bring me joy
:)
Are there any artists you find particularly great - if so, which ones and why?
There are really so many artists I admire and celebrate extremely! To name them all would probably go beyond the scope here, but I don't want to withhold three from you:
- My amazing friend and insanely talented artist Theresa from @dieschönschreiberei. She got me into lettering and watercolor, explained to me that it would be good to wash out my brushes already and is just a true artist. Any of her work I would hang in my home in a heartbeat.
- Over the past few months I have fallen hard in love with Maria @diewolkenletterei 's art. It's a very different style than mine and that's what I admire and love so much about it.
Her results are so delicate and so perfect, with great attention to detail. If I ever get a tattoo, it will be with a design from her!
- I love Notietzblock's illustrations and messages. I wear them not only on one or the other t-shirt, but also as a calendar on the wall. For me a great example of how valuable the message of creativity can be :)
Creativity and social media - what are your thoughts on it?
Hm, good question :)
Without social media I would never have been able to build up a creative business, and I would never have met
many wonderful people. That's why, on the one hand, I'm a huge fan
of it.
But I also think that social media is not always good for us. Because often we tend to compare and devalue ourselves and our works because of social media. As soon as that happens, I think we should close the app for a while and go back to real life and celebrate the hell out of ourselves for what we've created :)!
Do you have other creative goals and dreams that you are already looking forward to?
I dream a lot and with pleasure and also often big and already have a few goals, yes :)
Here a small excerpt:
One goal is with my online course Handlettering Kreativzeit, which opens its doors again in November
, to inspire many people for lettering and show them how
they too can create beautiful results with wow effect in a short time!
But I would also like to encourage others to find their creative way and to go bravely!
For this I would find it great to pass on my experiences and the knowledge that I am allowed to collect to
other artists - whether online, or at events.
I firmly believe that we can grow together as an artist community and
above all can move a lot of positive. I would like to contribute to that.
And then there is a little dream in me...
The dream of an own book about handlettering and watercolor.
That would be a big thing for me!
-thank you very much for the interview, dear Lena
