March 4, 2025, Art & Soul announced their company closure.
Art & Soul Situation --Who's Lying? March 4, 2025
Unfortunately due to the lies that have been spreading about me in my name in a group that is run by "Art & Soul", I feel I need to post more of the truth. This is far past the point of no return for me, and if I'm being honest the legal system is too slow right now to deal with this as swiftly as I need to, because there needs to be an immediate STOP to the slandering of my name online (which we may still end up in court I'm just trying to stop the bleeding). It's gotten SO out of control. I am under attack and I have to defend myself. I'm just SO exhausted at this point and they keep posting things in their group for sympathy about now closing down their company and talking about attorneys, to which people are saying I hope I get sued for breach of contract and defamation, other Artists are saying they've lost income now, and fans are saying they will never buy my art again because of this (and are even calling other companies I'm with and cancelling their Hannah Lynn orders). I feel for any Artist that has, as I have obviously lost income too, even having issued a Cease & Desist for copyright infringement because they were my largest portfolio, selling kits every day. I have lost so much but I'm still fighting. I also couldn't stand by while my fans were sending in money to a company I know to not being actively working with a manufacturer and not making good on orders, that's partly why this has been publicized, because I need everyone making sure they are getting what they paid for or a refund and I didn't want them lying to fans anymore about delays. Thank you so much for your love and support, I cannot tell you how much you mean to me.
***PLEASE do not send harassing messages to anyone on my behalf***the best thing is to ignore and stop giving them attention on anything having to do with me completely.
***PLEASE do not send harassing messages to anyone on my behalf***the best thing is to ignore and stop giving them attention on anything having to do with me completely.
Art & Soul posted this statement below (among others) in their private group which I am not a part of, and continued to allow their group members to post terrible things about me while they responded with "thank you's" and "hugs", and other responses garnering support for them as victims and perpetuating their slander on my name. I warned them ahead of time that defamation is still defamation even if it is in a private group, or even one on one, and they posted this AFTER I warned them in emails about it, so they have chosen for this go as far as this now. There is so much I could defend, but I want to focus on what will simply prove they are lying without question about major things, which for me, means I cannot trust ANYTHING they say, so I shouldn't have to elaborate and I can get back to my life and work (and fighting the other big bad bully I'm also up against right now, if you know you know).
March 2, 2025 Posted to the Art & Soul Group
"Art and Soul Family, as previously stated, Hannah Lynn is no longer licensed with Art and Soul. We have previously and are continuing consultation with legal representation on this matter. I bought into 1/3 of Art and Soul in February 2024. Scott and I obtained 100% legal ownership of Art and Soul through the buyout accepted by Mrs. Jessica Mundy in November of 2024. We have continued doing business in good faith through receipt of the Cease and Desist e-mail February 26th. Of note, this situation arose once Ms. Lynn asked us verbally to give her all of our renders of her work so she could take them and start her own diamond painting company to sell her work. Upon saying no, Ms. Lynn chose to no longer do business with us and the situation has devolved from there. We gladly leave it to the legal system to confirm our legal ownership of Art and Soul Diamond Paintings and Accessories. As royalties were paid and accepted for orders through end of January, we had recommended ceasing business and refunding all orders February 1 forward which is what we plan to do. As we are only two people, we have been going through the orders today and identifying all Hannah Lynn kits ordered from February 1 to February 26 to begin cancelling and refunding customers. Any statements, rumors, accusations, or other information contrary to that is just more drama. This situation is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. We have continued communicating in good faith to have the least impacts on customers who purchased kits. Our customers know we are as transparent as possible. We complied with the Cease and Desist as we would any artist requesting we remove their work. We have tried to discuss this calmly with Ms. Lynn, to prevent a huge drain on time, energy, and funds for both parties and funding the yachts and vacations of lawyers but the situation has deteriorated. We ask for patience and grace as we process cancellations and refunds today and tomorrow and pay our monthly artist royalties. Please note all existing orders will be fulfilled as usual, excepting those affected by cancellation and refund of Hannah Lynn kits as noted above. We have been looking into new manufacturers to speed up manufacture and shipping times, along with obtaining more timely tracking, which was a big improvement we were hoping to share. That will be put on hold as there simply aren't enough hours in the day with this situation arising. We remain proud of this company and want to thank each of you for your purchases and support to date, regardless of what the future holds. -Melissa and Scott"
March 2, 2025 Posted to the Art & Soul Group
"Art and Soul Family, as previously stated, Hannah Lynn is no longer licensed with Art and Soul. We have previously and are continuing consultation with legal representation on this matter. I bought into 1/3 of Art and Soul in February 2024. Scott and I obtained 100% legal ownership of Art and Soul through the buyout accepted by Mrs. Jessica Mundy in November of 2024. We have continued doing business in good faith through receipt of the Cease and Desist e-mail February 26th. Of note, this situation arose once Ms. Lynn asked us verbally to give her all of our renders of her work so she could take them and start her own diamond painting company to sell her work. Upon saying no, Ms. Lynn chose to no longer do business with us and the situation has devolved from there. We gladly leave it to the legal system to confirm our legal ownership of Art and Soul Diamond Paintings and Accessories. As royalties were paid and accepted for orders through end of January, we had recommended ceasing business and refunding all orders February 1 forward which is what we plan to do. As we are only two people, we have been going through the orders today and identifying all Hannah Lynn kits ordered from February 1 to February 26 to begin cancelling and refunding customers. Any statements, rumors, accusations, or other information contrary to that is just more drama. This situation is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. We have continued communicating in good faith to have the least impacts on customers who purchased kits. Our customers know we are as transparent as possible. We complied with the Cease and Desist as we would any artist requesting we remove their work. We have tried to discuss this calmly with Ms. Lynn, to prevent a huge drain on time, energy, and funds for both parties and funding the yachts and vacations of lawyers but the situation has deteriorated. We ask for patience and grace as we process cancellations and refunds today and tomorrow and pay our monthly artist royalties. Please note all existing orders will be fulfilled as usual, excepting those affected by cancellation and refund of Hannah Lynn kits as noted above. We have been looking into new manufacturers to speed up manufacture and shipping times, along with obtaining more timely tracking, which was a big improvement we were hoping to share. That will be put on hold as there simply aren't enough hours in the day with this situation arising. We remain proud of this company and want to thank each of you for your purchases and support to date, regardless of what the future holds. -Melissa and Scott"
Here are the screenshots of our Facebook messenger conversations following the phone conversation, which I think speak for themselves. I think they thought because there was a unrecorded phone call that it would be my word against theirs, but these follow-up messages prove what they said here is just not true (we did talk about how I've been thinking I might be carrying kits on my own site and that I would be happy to take what they said they might retire or not want to produce possibly to start). They are outright lying and destroying my reputation and I'm absolutely sick over watching all of this happen after 20 years of doing this as a Sole Proprietor Artist. I'm sorry if it's hard to read you may have to zoom in. The first message with the screenshots is me confronting Scott & Melissa about Melissa (who yelled at me during our call) insisting that the previous owner told them they had an extension on the new releases. After I got off the phone I had to go back and check because something just didn't feel right, I KNEW I had talked to her directly about it. Which I did and she confirmed, and I asked for an updated contract for that, with her promising to send it...to which they never did. I've never signed a contract with Melissa, Scott, or their registered business (which is not Art & Soul) to this day and I couldn't personally verify their ownership of the company. I signed with, and was working with, someone entirely different up until November when they took over. I tried so hard to make this work and keep it "low drama" but it's just gotten worse and worse.
December 5th is when the original screenshots were from seen here, sent on Feb 23 to confront the situation that happened on the phone.
Close up of this one so it's easier to read, but still wanted to make sure both sides were there!
This was the point at which I started looking at my contract and pulling up Secretary of State filings because everything just felt wrong. Then I sent a Cease & Desist for copyright infringement and they took everything down. They said above "We complied with the Cease and Desist as we would any artist requesting we remove their work." but how does that make any sense, if we had a valid contract wouldn't they have said "no, we have a contract"--like how they fought me so hard on everything above?
Also please remember, lawsuits are always public record. If anything gets filed, it will be public just the same. They're public for a reason--people should know who they are seeking to doing business with.
This should do it for me on this one, fans. I love you and I know there are so many out there that are standing by me, supporting me, and praying for me. I SEE YOU, I feel you, I know you're there, and I love you. <3
Hannah Lynn
Also please remember, lawsuits are always public record. If anything gets filed, it will be public just the same. They're public for a reason--people should know who they are seeking to doing business with.
This should do it for me on this one, fans. I love you and I know there are so many out there that are standing by me, supporting me, and praying for me. I SEE YOU, I feel you, I know you're there, and I love you. <3
Hannah Lynn
Previous Updates
March 4, 2025 Hannah Lynn Art & Design Facebook page
I’m so sad to have to expose this, I had hoped that the company, Art & Soul, would do the right thing, but I’m now being lied about with them trying to ruin my reputation, and my fans are being lied to. When I found this new information out, I was shocked and realized not only was I being lied to, but my fans were also being lied to about why they were not getting their orders. I received evidence from the manufacturer that the factory was NOT getting paid by Art & Soul for the orders to be made and shipped to my fans (I moved the screenshot of the image posted to the comments section because I don't want it to continue showing up in my "photo album" on a page that is supposed to be about my art!). This was the final point I knew I needed to leave to protect myself and my fans, on top of all the other problems I was having with them. I tried to leave respectably without drama, but they are insistent upon perpetuating these lies and causing drama, so this must be brought to light for the good of the diamond painting community that I love. I want you to get what you paid for, and I appreciate and love every single one of you. Thank you so much for your love and support. **EDIT Please do not send harassing hateful messages or comments to anyone on my behalf thank you**
Hannah
I’m so sad to have to expose this, I had hoped that the company, Art & Soul, would do the right thing, but I’m now being lied about with them trying to ruin my reputation, and my fans are being lied to. When I found this new information out, I was shocked and realized not only was I being lied to, but my fans were also being lied to about why they were not getting their orders. I received evidence from the manufacturer that the factory was NOT getting paid by Art & Soul for the orders to be made and shipped to my fans (I moved the screenshot of the image posted to the comments section because I don't want it to continue showing up in my "photo album" on a page that is supposed to be about my art!). This was the final point I knew I needed to leave to protect myself and my fans, on top of all the other problems I was having with them. I tried to leave respectably without drama, but they are insistent upon perpetuating these lies and causing drama, so this must be brought to light for the good of the diamond painting community that I love. I want you to get what you paid for, and I appreciate and love every single one of you. Thank you so much for your love and support. **EDIT Please do not send harassing hateful messages or comments to anyone on my behalf thank you**
Hannah
March 2, 2025 Hannah Lynn Art & Design Facebook page
To all my wonderful Diamond Painting fans…I want to reach out to you to shed some clarity about another unfortunate situation that has befallen me in the diamond painting community which needs to be addressed…BUT it is followed up by an EXCITING announcement (*****feel free to scroll down to the **Exciting Announcement** section down below)!!! *****
I regret to inform you of the unexpected end of my diamond painting relationship with (and removal of my kits from) the Art and Soul Diamonds site. I had such high hopes for this to work out long term and I know you did too!
It recently came to my attention upon reviewing my contract (for possible renewal or extension) that those who are currently conducting business under the Art & Soul Diamonds name & website (who announced an ownership transition in November) are not only not the original people *I* signed a contract with, but that I also could not verify them as the legal owners of Art & Soul via any public source (such as legal Secretary of State filings) or any other documents presented to me upon request. The individuals and company registrations do not match my contract, and a new agreement was never signed with them. Whatever it is that happened between the claimed owners in November did not effectively transfer the agreement I had signed to provide legal licensing to those claiming to be the new owners, nor I was a part of it.
Before I realized the ownership situation was a problem (and under the assumption they were the new legal owners of Art & Soul as they’ve claimed to be since November 2024) I received a phone call last week from them stating they wanted to change factories. They said that to accomplish this, all 62 of my current kits plus more in the pipeline would have to be completely re-rendered with a new factory, and that unless I was planning to continue past the contract end date in May 2025 and even further into 2026, they would need to immediately RETIRE all but just a few of my best selling kits; and that they wanted to put all those that they would choose to retire on a 30 day “fire sale”, because it wouldn’t be worth the re-rendering cost and time investment if the contract was allowed to expire in May as it was set to automatically. During the conversation about the proposed factory change, I expressed my concern that this change would be incredibly disruptive to the fans’ access to my kits, Art & Soul’s business and my business, that I didn’t want them to retire any of my kits (but that I especially didn’t want them putting them on some 30 day “fire sale”), and reminded them that there was only 12 weeks left for new releases on our contract. The conversation took a distasteful turn at that point and I was met with hostility from one of the “owners” saying it was “very disturbing” because they said the previous owner had told them something different when they “bought” the business. I attempted to work things out over the phone, giving the benefit of the doubt that maybe there truly was some misunderstanding.
Once I hung up and verified that everyone was communicated with in the same way (including directly from me to them in December through written messages), I confronted them about it to which they apologized, but then they asked if I would still consider agreeing to contract renewal and extension of the agreement to which I told them unfortunately our contract would be allowed to expire in May (because I obviously didn’t feel comfortable and confident moving beyond that point with everything that had just happened and the instability of the company). In response to that, I was met with even more hostility through messages with very concerning accusations, which is when I started looking further into my contract and attempting to verify legal business registrations, which I could not do.
In light of these disappointing discoveries, on February 26, 2025, I issued a Cease & Desist for Copyright Infringement to these individuals and the company they have registered (which is not Art & Soul) to immediately pull down my kits for sale and cease all business operations relating to my artwork, kits, and brand. My uncomfortable experience above, along with reason to believe that the company is in some sort of distress which might result in my fans not getting their kits, is what prompted IMMEDIATE intervention from me so that no fan of Hannah Lynn places another order they may never receive, with a company that does not have a valid legal license to sell my work in the first place. Thankfully, they did comply with that and pulled the kits off of the website right away, but have made public announcements that they would process pending orders received before February 26, 2025 which is directly against the Cease & Desist order.
They have continued to misrepresent the situation online. I provided them an opportunity to offer refunds to their customers with pending Hannah Lynn kit orders, and to remove their misleading statements about me and this situation, which they appear to be using as a way to elicit sympathy and financial support for their small business which in the process they are damaging my reputation and the diamond painting community, which is absolutely unacceptable. This is a beautiful craft full of loving fans and many good companies that deserve to be CELEBRATED! I am given little choice but to do what is right to protect my fans, the diamond painting community, and myself by dealing with this as swiftly as possible!
I’m SO sorry if you got caught up in this and have a pending order with them that you will not be able to get . I know how disappointing this must be for you. Please contact them directly for a refund on any outstanding or pending Hannah Lynn orders, as they are not authorized to process any further orders, regardless of when they were placed. If you cannot get a response or a refund from them within 7 working days, please reach out to me directly at [email protected].
****ON TO THE GOOD NEWS and EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!****
Considering all of the ongoing struggles and challenges with certain licensing partners in this industry, I feel the best solution for YOU, my fans, is to work directly with a high quality manufacturer to carry new and returning Hannah Lynn diamond paintings on my own website! This is the highest assurance I can personally offer to my fans moving forward, and I am THRILLED to have a plan to bring the best quality kits I can offer with the personal connection you have known and loved for nearly 20 years now under the Hannah Lynn brand directly, with the support of my family. Please join my newsletter on HannahLynn.com to be notified of updates while we work hard behind the scenes to bring you Hannah Lynn diamond paintings direct!
Having said that, I still have wonderful, trustworthy, ongoing licensing partnerships with Bella Art Diamonds (Bella Art de Nicole), Dreamer Designs, and Oraloa (they still have LOTS in production that will be releasing SOON!), and there are plenty of other great companies that deserve your business—and I hope you will continue to purchase from them despite a few bad apples in the industry. It saddens us all when things like this happen. Please note that licensing agreements are only for a limited time and aren’t always open to renewal for a variety of reasons, which aren’t usually this dramatic! My hope is that by offering them myself, Hannah Lynn kits will have a more stable home you can rely on, and I can’t wait to make this new DREAM a REALITY! I think you will be very excited too
Thank you so much for your patience and support while I work diligently behind the scenes for you, my fans. I am nothing without you and I will forever be grateful that I grew up to achieve my childhood dream of becoming an Artist for a living. I marvel at it every day and I will never take that-or you-for granted
Hannah Lynn
**EDIT turning off comments now so I can get back to work on other things thank you so much, please email me at [email protected] if you need something