Let's try abstract art. Your next weekend project.

Whether you're a seasoned artist, a weekend dabbler or when the mood strikes, kinda person, this project is perfect for you.

Even if you haven't picked up a paintbrush since childhood, I can guarantee you'll produce something to be proud of, and there's a little bonus too!
I painted these three designs in the week leading up to Father's Day, which came close to Valentine's Day in terms of busyness in my shops. They played a big part in helping me keep my head on straight and you wouldn't think it, but just putting lines a dots of paint on a canvas is an extremely effective (and worthwhile) stress reliever!  I showed a few snippets on Instagram and described it as putting my worries into little paint boxes. Each little line or blob holds a small corner of a problem; what time does the post office shut, will I run out of envelopes, will I have time to help with my Dad's birthday party, my leg hurts, I have a headache, have I eaten today, what if I get a bad review.......... So yeah, they're quite personal to me now.
You'll probably have all the materials you need already (you little art hoarder) the only things I had to buy were a new frame and canvas for the grand sum of £2.50!

What you'll need.
• Paints & brushes
• Canvas or paper (sizes of your choice)
• Picture frame
• Hairdryer for drying if you're a tad impatient, like me

Ok, so now you're ready with all your bits and bobs, you can choose your colour scheme. For one of my paintings I went for pink, corals, purple and gold. If you're stuck for ideas then just search for colour palettes in Google. Perhaps you have a favourite outfit or just love the colours in the wallpaper in your front room, the choice is yours.

Now it's time to just go mad. I tried to do just one colour at a time (it seemed easier). Even thougt these pictures look like a jumbled up mess, you can make them as random or as symmetrical as you like. The design with the black was quite methodical, every brush stroke was placed next to a 'like' brushstroke, but for the purple design, I just placed the marks where I felt like it.
Once you've got your first colour down, you can go on to add the rest. Now, you have two options here, you can either let each one dry (I used my hairdryer to speed that up) or carry on over the top while the paint is still wet to create a smudged effect.

I used different sized brushes to create a bit of texture and depth, how fancy, but again, just use whatever you have to hand.
Keep going until you're happy with your design. If you end up not quite liking what you've done, you can always paint over it and start again.
You may notice that some of my brush strokes have a bit of texture to them. I made quite a mess on my first go so painted over it with white emulsion. Then I thought I'd try and age it a bit with some crackle effect, THEN I painted over the top of that as I changed my mind, yet the crackle still showed through. I do quite like the overall effect to that canvas turned into a real success. ☺

And there we have it, once your painting has dried, simply frame it up and hang it. You could even give it as a gift or treat to someone special. You don't have to stop at one either, I like to have groups of three so I did a few more, experimenting with different colours.


** Bonus idea
As well as having a super cool and unique abstract art painting, you can also slap your design on many other products too!
All you need is either a camera or scanner to convert your work into digital form. You can tweak the colours in your design software (you could even just do this on your phone, these days) then upload to an online printer.

Sound scary? Well not really, I actually just used Asda for my phonecase here and it's pretty simple. You can upload yours here (I'm not affiliated with Asda, by the way. I just find them quick and easy to use).

So that's your little project, I hope you found it as enjoyable and therapeutic as I did. I also added a few items from this design into my Society6 store, you can take a look here.

Enjoy