Styling a flatlay is just like concepting an illustration. I first ask myself, what is the story I’m trying to tell? Then, it’s about assembling items that tell little stories. You may ask, “Lilla why did you include cookies? Isn’t this an art retreat?” I added them because they represent luxury, snacking on delicacies. I imagine we’re snacking on them while we make art, like we did on my France retreat. Plus of course they’re really pretty and they inject a number of round shapes into an otherwise boxy flatlay. The tropical flowers give a sense of place–Portugal. I like to include them around the edges, especially when they are long-stemmed like these. Then I feature the activity–a specific example of what we will be doing, which in this case is painting the colors from the cards. Art materials like brushes and colored pencils are great to accessorize the photo, plus
