The holidays can be a hectic time of year. Or, they can be a time where we unplug and reflect, as we’ve been talking about in our monthly themed posts. This time of year, I do like to make art. However, I try not to take it so seriously. Today, I want to share ways you can get festive with your art and have some fun this holiday season.

1. Make Holiday-Themed Art Prints

When I was a younger artist, I used to shy away from holiday work. The holiday season is such a small portion of the year, I thought it was a waste of my creative juices. A few years back, I started making holiday-themed pieces, and they’re some of my favorite works I’ve produced. Now, I make it a habit of producing holiday work every year. It just makes me happy, especially when I have Christmas music playing in the background.

Much to my surprise, some of these pieces have sold pretty well, even though they only sell for a couple of months out of the year. In fact, the West Elm work I recently did was all because I started making holiday-themed work. They liked my previous pieces, and wanted me to produce holiday work for them.

2. Decorate Your Studio Space

This one is important to me, especially since I spend so much time packaging up orders in December. I love bringing little Christmas decorations into my space. During the holidays, I contantly have Christmas music playing on my Alexa and a Christmas candle burning to liven up the mood. This would be a great time to display your holiday work as well. If you don’t have a studio, decorating your art corner or desk for the holidays will bring you so much joy. It may also be the thing that inspires you to try some of the other activities on this list.

3. Gift Someone a Painting

There is nothing more special than painting something for a loved one. I can’t think of a better way to show love. Yet, I don’t do this enough. This year, I want to make more art for my loved ones just because. When you make something for a loved one, the pressure is off. They will love it no matter what. And you aren’t making art to turn a profit. You’re making it for fun, as an act of love. This kind of art feels different. It’s a nice change of pace from the way I approach art the rest of the year, always putting pressure on myself to produce great work.

Some great subject matter ideas are portraits of your loved ones or their pets. I especially love the idea of mini portraits if you’re gifting to multiple people. Also, they would love a beautiful landscape or cityscape of one of their favorite places.

Make sure you pick a unique frame for the piece you’re gifting. This way, you can save your loved ones the trouble of having to find a frame themselves. Personally, I like vintage frames because they feel more special. If you don’t have time to paint something specific for a loved one, you can gift them one of your originals in a frame. Since I don’t sell my originals, I have lots of these paintings in storage.

4. Make Homemade Cards or Gift Tags

I love using my art paper to hand-paint cards. Again, this is something I don’t do often enough. However, I like the idea of sending handmade cards to my favorite people for the holidays. It could also be fun to make little gift tags for presents with hand-painted details. I actually did this for a pop up once - illustrating tags for people on the spot. It wasn’t for the holidays, but it was a big hit. People love small handmade things like this. I love these rustic gift tags I found on Amazon. All you need to do is punch a hole in them and call it a day. Or you could just tape it directly to your wrapping paper.

5. Make an Advent Calendar

This might sound complicated, but bare with me. I saw this cute example from FamilleSummerbelle (right), and realized it’s actually pretty doable. I think their version is so adorable and chic. Plus, it’s so fun to display your own art in your home. You don’t even need to have cloth pockets like theirs, although that’s an option when using acrylic paints. All you need are some illustrated cards or envelopes (if you want to store goodies for each date), rope, and mini clothes pins. This could be a fun display for your studio as well.

6. Paint Ornaments

I always see artists doing this on Instagram, and I love the trend. A few years back, I got together with one of my creative friends and we painted ornaments together. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season. Your best bet for painting on ornaments is with acrylic paint, which works on everything. It’s also waterproof, which is important. I have this Winsor & Newton set, but Golden Acrylics are great for this too. Whether you paint ornaments by yourself this year, or turn it into a holiday party, it’s something you won’t regret. It’s just so darn fun! I would go with simple white or wood ornaments. I love the abstract examples below from LiveLoveLarson.

7. Paint Wrapping Paper

I recently saw an example of this idea on Art in Bloom, one of my favorite Magnolia Network shows (available on Max). This idea inspired me. There’s zero pressure when painting wrapping paper, because it will probably get thrown away. It’s just a fun way to get creative. And it’s the perfect activity to do with friends (even less creative ones) in order to get festive. For this, I would use acrylic paints on plain kraft wrapping paper or on plain black/white paper. Here is a fun video for inspiration. Also I love the example from LayBabyLay below. I enjoy abstract work for projects like this, because there’s less pressure to make something amazing.

Don’t forget to pick out some fun ribbons and details for your packages. I love the little bells and trees on the example below.