Lena, a white woman with a brunette pixie cut and glasses, is shown in profile painting on a picnic table at the Wildflower Center in Austin, as trees bloom pink in the background.

If you love being surrounded by beautiful things.

If you gravitate toward bold, vintage-inspired art.

If you love a dash of whimsy in your belongings…

Then Réve & Bloom is for you!

Lena, a white woman with a brunette pixie cut and glasses in a brown leather jacket, looks into the camera with fall trees behind her.

Hi, I'm Lena, artist behind Réve & Bloom, an art brand that helps make life more magical with our vibrant designs. My art is a portal to joy and wonder in adult life, using vintage-bold colors, literary references, and thoughtfully-designs to make you smile.

I wasn't always an artist.

Or, rather, I was a constant artist as a kid—play doh, paint, and fabric were my bffs. Then my dad died, and school got in the way, and it felt like my artist-self just kind of stopped when I was 8.

But my artist self could not be ignored! She came roaring back in when I was 30, and I haven't looked back. In between age 8 and 30, I lived inside my books, reading and writing up a storm until I had a PhD in political philosophy and law at 27.

Other people seemed to see that my creative self was still in there, though. So when a crafty thing came up, I got a call. My high school class had to paint a big window for homecoming, so I painted it. I didn't like the dresses at the mall for my junior prom, so I made one. A friend recommended The Artist's Way, and I got really into it. I was losing my mind trying to finish my dissertation, so a bead store in Austin became my second home as I made jewelry to cope.

In the end, I'm glad I spent so much time reading and writing and traveling and thinking, because all of it shows up in really cool ways in my art. I love portraying all the parts of life in my art, and the cultural and nostalgic references give my art a special something, don't they?

Lena, a white woman with a brunette pixie cut and glasses, wearing a flomask, stands in front of her art, a collage of a candle hanging in front of a window of flowers at night.

My first art show was even a collection of poetry art—painted paper collage illustrating poems with the words painted on top, mostly of Emily Dickinson's poems, because I'm kinda obsessed! I've also collaborated with poets and musicians, been featured in literary journals, and learned to make art as a spiritual practice. Cool, right? (The picture above is me with a piece based on Edna St. Vincent-Millay’s poem, First Figs:

My candle burns at both ends;
    It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
    It gives a lovely light!

At Réve & Bloom, we BELIEVE

life is better lived in the presence of beauty

that art can make a bad day better

and that being around thoughtfully designed belongings can inspire anyone's creativity (we all have it!).

long playlists of oldies music make life better (1950s-80s, mostly, save my teenaged 90s/aughts favorites).

not everything has to match

but if things match, the patterns, colors, and textures better be amazing!

that human artists can beat a computer algorithm any day

and that minimalism and its beige/griege sadness should definitely be on its way out!

A white woman with glasses and a pixie cut, wearing a black lace top and a green tulle skirt, dances about in the wind against a white brick wall.

If my style is up your alley, or you want to learn more, send me an email at reveandbloom@gmail.com. I’d love to work with you on art licensing or wholesale stationery sales!