Drawing and painting are huge stress relievers. Just think about the last time you were on a stressful call and you found yourself making swirly twirlies on a the back of an envelope. Maybe you doodle stick figures or flowers, it doesn’t matter because you were working the tension out onto paper.

Experiment with pencils, charcoal, pastels, markers, watercolor, acrylic, oil or finger paint. Mixing mediums is lot of fun and may just get the right amount of color or detail that you want. Colored pencils add detail and tonal value to marker renderings and watercolor paintings. It’s important to choose the proper paper for each medium and allow paint and markers to fully dry before adding another medium to the artwork. Choose colors and subject matter that you enjoy.

There are plenty of lessons, rules and “how-to” videos, but the best way to learn is by creating from your heart and trusting your instincts. Here are some of my abstract paintings along with a few portraits and a sketch. Love them or hate them, they were each created at different times in my life and I’ve gotten to a place where I see beyond the imperfections straight to how I felt during the process and of course, the completion. I hope this inspires you to get creative and surprise yourself with your hidden artistic talent.