I have heard from many of you that you are looking for a creative outlet at this time to share with your kids! Perhaps, after being at home over the past few months, you have even tackled some home projects and have the desire to refresh your walls. I personally love a project that is created with my own two hands- along with one that sparks a memory for all of those involved. 

What better way to tap into your creativity than with an abstract painting project- that can even be accomplished with kids?!

This project is one part color mixing and the other part observational drawing-both of which can be incredibly satisfying and fun! As you may know, I love to paint, especially abstracts! I often get the urge to paint more freely and in a meditative way. Color and abstraction really lend themselves to meditation. I recently came across Australian artist, Leah Bartholomew's work and I really fell in love with her style. I am a big fan of color, especially blues and pastels, so I got really excited. Here is a picture of one of her rooms below. One thing that you will love about this project is that you can do it alone, in tandem with your kids at home. 

You will want to gather some supplies for your abstract painting. First off, I would like to say that you do not need all of these supplies although paints, paper and glue are essential. I was actually able to clean out my collage paper drawer which consists of wallpapers and construction paper and I was able to re-use in that way. 

• 11" x 14" canvas board or watercolor paper 
• collage papers,  or paint swatches
• Acrylic starter set or Gouache set
• Glue-sticks- any will do, although I tend to prefer sticky ones
• Round paint brush - size 10 - or any brush will do!

For this project, I use a combination of Liquitex acrylic paints and Holbein gouaches. I love the flat designer effect of this gouache and have invested in many colors over time. 

Here is where I will summarize, what the process looks like for me. 

1. Tearing and arranging collage shapes. With children I asked them to start with 5 shapes and to tear them organically, while remembering to space them out. 
2. Once I feel happy with the arrangement/color combination, I began to glue down the paper shapes. It's interesting how later, when you are painting you can no longer recognize the torn shape from the painted one next to it! 
3. Next, I mixed a limited palette of pastel paints. To make a pastel color, you tint each color by adding white. 
4. When working with a group, I instructed students to draw an organic (wavy line) from one shape to the next, outlining each shape then painting it in. I describe it as painting series of puzzle pieces. 

Here are some results from my students! 

Later, I added in a pear and an apple! I felt that fruits were easier for my students to draw than flowers. We used tracing paper to draw on, so that background would show through. I added a bit of Modge Podge on top to seal each one. If I were doing the project on my own, I would sketch in botanical illustrations in pencil. 

You could also experiment with size. Instead of ordering a set of 3 canvas panels, you could do one large canvas like Leah does - I like this 30" x 40" canvas size for interior art. It would even be fun to create a custom painting using interior paint colors in the room!

I have to share one more of Leah Bartholomew's beautiful pieces with you before you go! So bright and summery, no?

If you loved this project, you may consider joining one of our classes below: 

• ​Watercolor for Relaxation (for adults)
• Drawing & Painting: Outdoor Adventures (for artists 8-12)

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For other family friendly art projects, check these out: 

• ​DIY Modern Hexagon Collage
• ​​Crafting Flower Leis with Kids

Today, I will share with you how I began to sell my original artworks as high-quality prints online. This is the beginning of a new series "Working As" where I will explore the different ways that I see creative people having success out there in the real world. My hope is that this series will give more artists and designers ideas about how to connect with an audience who truly appreciates their work.

This piece was inspired by a conversation that I had with a colleague the other day who had recently graduated from college. She had a strong interest in developing her work as an artist post-college. She asked me a variety of questions about how I sell my work online, which is something that I have been experimenting with over the past 5 years.

One of the first places other than Etsy and craft fairs that I have sold my fine art prints is through Minted.com. Here are the steps that I took to sell on Minted along with what has helped me to get my first few designs published. 

1. REGISTER
​To enter the design challenges, you will need to Create an Account. I already had an account because I was a customer of Minted first, if you have never used Minted before, you can register here.
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2. SEE OPEN CHALLENGES
Next, you can look up the Open Challenges to see opportunities to enter your work. I like to peruse the challenges way in advance. Sometimes I design based on these challenges, but I also submit pieces that I create as a part of my studio practice that I think are a nice fit. 

​This abstract painting below was inspired by a trip to the Joshua Tree desert and I entered it in the Minted x West Elm Challenge. 

3. SUBMIT YOUR DESIGNS
I recommend submitting more than 1 design especially if you have more than 1. You can also submit a series of artworks. I submitted both pieces below to the Minted x West Elm challenge. If I'm being honest, I really thought the piece at right would receive the most votes. To my surprise the piece to the left was chosen as an Editor's pick.This was my second win! I was so excited because, I love West Elm and had always wanted to be selected Feedback is often helpful and can also surprise you! 

4. JOIN THE COMMUNITY
You can gain followers and friends by commenting and liking other artist's work that you genuinely enjoy. You can build a little community of artists and fans, plus receive meaningful feedback. Later, I joined the Minted Community group on Facebook, where I was able to ask questions about the best ways to digitize my art. Below, you will see some of my favorite artists that I began to follow. I learned a lot by looking at their winning artwork. 

Once voting begins, you can participate by voting on the artwork in each challenge. You can get friends and fans on social media involved by asking them to rate your work, or you can send out an email to a group of close friends and family.

5. GET YOUR WORK NOTICED 
Creating a poll is another way to gather feedback about your work, while making your work more visible. Many people can see it on Minted, when you create a poll to ask a question about your work.

Sometimes when a new challenge is announced, it inspires me to create a new artwork, and other times I use a piece of art from my portfolio that I feel is appropriate or speaks to the challenge. For my first big win, I entered the Drawing and Sketching Challenge, I chose to enter my watercolor of Amer Fort shown below. I think it shows my ability to sketch and I had received a lot of positive feedback on the piece from friends, so I thought it would have a good chance at being selected. That particular challenge although competitive did not have as many entries as the larger West Elm challenges and I thought that might be a good place to start. 

6. SET UP YOUR SHOP
Congratulations! Once your first artwork is selected by the Minted community or editors, you are ready to set up your Minted shop. You will be guided through the steps online. You will create an artist's bio that describes your work, is interesting, and can be viewed by many people online. ​Later, I created a banner and added photos from my art studio. An evocative banner might feature the materials you use, a close-up of one of your artworks, or your studio space. ​I chose to show a picture of my workspace and artwork in progress. ​​

Below is a graphic color wheel collage that recently I submitted to the Pottery Barn Kids x Minted challenge. I noticed that many people liked this piece prior to voting, so my fingers are crossed! 

7. NEVER GIVE UP
Lastly, I would like to encourage you! My work was not chosen for the first 2 challenges that I entered, so in this case I did not have beginner's luck. It was only after curating and improving my work that I had that first win- so have patience and never give up! Once you have a shop you can "self-launch" other artworks and this can also be a good way to find out what people respond to. 

​Stay tuned to find out how I am growing my Minted storefront along with tips on how you can too. This has been the first post in my Working As ​series, and I would like to hear from you. Please let me know, if you have any questions about how to take those first steps with Minted. Have fun and be creative- there are no limits to what you can accomplish!