How Minimalism Helped Me Find My Art Style

Since 2015 I have been implementing minimalist ideas into my life. There have been a lot of positive effects because of this lifestyle change but the one I want to talk about today was how this helped me to develop my art style.

There are a lot of people out there that write about minimalism but my main two resources were The Minimalists and Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I never went to art school,.. Well sorta.. I went to a specialized arts program in elementary and high school. But neither of those were structured like art colleges, where you slowly hone in on your style through experimentation and guided instruction. My way of homing in on my style was closer to a blindfolded drunk stumbling through a forest, some of the trees I hit bore fruit, but most just caused bruises.

Before I started to whittle down my art supplies, I was interested in and tried many mediums, there was acrylic, and alcohol markers, watercolour and ink, knitting and leatherworking, embroidery and oil pastels, chalk pastel and oil paints. I was all over the place! I had no direction and nothing to focus on. And my artwork looked like it.

Then through multiple purges over the years, as I held each box of art supplies and asked myself if it sparked joy, I whittled my art and craft supplies down to a much smaller amount. Gone were the supplies that I never used and what remained were things that I genuinely enjoyed! Simple Pencils and Pens, Inks, Acrylic Paints and most importantly my Digital Art supplies (my laptop and iPad) These were the items I would focus on, and improve in.

This made going into my art supplies an exciting experience rather than a feeling of overwhelm and not knowing where to start. The blank page became less scary because I knew what tools Id use to mark it. And I improved at the mediums that remained and felt more sure of my skills.

I created this image using a regular ballpoint pen, then digitizing it on my laptop. This is digital artwork. You can print on some fine paper and hang it on your wall or use it to create crafts like maybe a T-shirt. By keeping it digital, I hope to create fewer things that then will go to landfill. Instead, you can add your own stamp to this design and create something that will add real value to your life. Because with minimalism, it’s not about getting rid of things, it’s about keeping the things that matter to you. Click on the image if you’d like to use it for your own art and craft projects. Or go to my Creative Market Shop.