Starting Your First Social Art Project at Home - a simple step by step guide to creating your unique and beautiful artwork!

Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home: A Guide to Starting Your First Social Artwork

Have you ever dreamed of creating a beautiful piece of art with your family or friends, right in the comfort of your home? Imagine a vibrant and unique canvas filled with the creativity of everyone involved, featuring warm colours like red, yellow, pink, orange, coral, and white. This dream can become a reality with my free eBook, “How to Start Your First Social Artwork at Home.” This 10-step guide makes the process simple and enjoyable, no matter your experience level.

Let’s dive into what you can expect from this exciting journey into collaborative creativity.

Join my Email List to receive this free guide.

Your Step-by-Step Guidance to Artistic Fun

This introductory, quick guide offers a straightforward, step-by-step approach to creating a collaborative artwork at home. It is designed to be accessible and fun for small groups, making it perfect for family gatherings or friendly get-togethers. The process is broken down into three main stages: Messy Playing, Exploring, and Bling!

Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home – Messy Playing:

This stage is all about letting go and having fun. You start by covering the table, laying out your supplies, and getting comfortable. The aim is to add clusters of marks and painting simple circles, spirals, and arches using various colours and brush sizes. Don’t worry about making it perfect—this stage is about expression and spontaneity.

Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home: Exploration Stage - this image shows a thick brushwork marks in circles, swirls, dots and arrow shapes of acrylic paint in pinks, reds, yellows, corals and oranges in many overlapping layers. — Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home: Exploring Stage

Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home – Exploring:

Here, you begin to add more structure to your artwork. This is where my “Pattern Play” resources come into play. Each of you can use the simple patterns provided in the eBook to add layers and focus on overlapping to build visual interest. The patterns are designed to be accessible to all ages and abilities, ensuring everyone can contribute meaningfully by simply copying the patterns in different colours, sizes and clusters. People gain confidence through this strategy and start, well, exploring!

Creating Collaborative Artworks at Home – Bling!:

The final stage is where the magic happens. Using the pattern ideas, you’ll add embellishments with paint pens, sharpies, glitter glue, and dot stickers. This is the time to make the artwork sparkle and shine, bringing out the individuality and creativity of the artwork with this fun stage that everyone loves!

Unique Resources to Inspire Creativity

When you sign up for my email list to receive the guide. As a member you’ll get access to unique “Pattern Play” resources. These are hand-drawn examples from my other projects, designed to inspire and guide you. You can copy the patterns directly, repeat them in different sizes and colours, or use them as inspiration to create your own designs. This ensures that each artwork is unique and personalised, reflecting the collective creativity of the group.

Why Warm Colours?

Using a limited colour scheme, such as warm colours, helps to create a cohesive and harmonious artwork. Warm colours like red, yellow, pink, orange and white are vibrant and inviting, encouraging a joyful and energetic atmosphere. They blend well together, making it easier for everyone to contribute without worrying about colour clashes and mixing the wrong colours into a muddy mess! Of course, you could choose cool colours. I’d definitely suggest a harmonious set of colours for your first project.

Encouraging Creativity for All Ages and All Abilities

One of the best things about creating collaborative artworks at home is that it is inclusive and accessible to all ages and abilities. The simple, guided steps ensure that even those with no prior art experience can join in and feel proud of their contributions. It’s a wonderful way to bond with family and friends, creating lasting memories and a beautiful piece of art to cherish.

How to Get Started With Your First Collaborative Artwork at Home!

To start your first social artwork at home, download my free eBook, “How to Start Your First Social Artwork at Home – A Simple Step By Step Guide to Creating Your Unique and Beautiful Collaborative Artwork!” Sign up for my email list to receive the guide and unique “Pattern Play” resources. Gather your supplies—a 30cm square canvas, a selection of warm-coloured paints, a few brushes, and some embellishments—and invite your family or friends to join you. Follow the 10 simple steps outlined in the eBook, and watch as your collaborative artwork comes to life over several sessions painting together.

Creating collaborative artworks at home is more than just painting; it’s about connecting, exploring, and celebrating creativity together. Whether you’re looking for a fun activity for a family gathering or a unique way to spend time with friends, this guide will help you create something truly special.

Happy painting!

Charndra, Your Social Art Guide

P.S. To help you along your creative journey, you’ll also receive weekly emails with further tips and encouragement for each stage of the creation process. These emails are designed to support and motivate anyone who might feel the need for a little extra guidance. Sign up today and start your collaborative art adventure!

Let’s chat:

What excites you most about creating collaborative artworks at home? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below, or ask any questions you may have.

The Power of Unity: Successful Collaborative Art Work Projects…

A collaborative art work called "Find Your Confidence" created by teenage girls as part of a social mural and social artwork project, showing swirling pinks, reds, peaches and yellows over a blue and aqua background.

Collaborative Art Work Project created by Primary School Children - Swirling blues, greens and aquas called "Aspiring to Success"

A collaborative art work painted by adult women who are carers of children with special educational needs, showing multi coloured circles, spirals and dots in overlapping patterns, called "Parents Time Out" Social artwork.

Discover the Thrill of Creating Collaborative Art Work!

Collaborative art work is awesome. Creating a painting with a group of people brings you together with a group of people in a shared creative experience. You grow in confidence as you are painting companionably with others, moving from place to place, interacting with what each other are doing, layering and overlapping. Your skills and confidence is build without comparison anxiety and performance pressure that we all feel painting our own individual artwork.

Let’s have a look at three collaborative art works from my own collection of social art projects:

Find Your Confidence in Creating the Layers of a Vibrant School Mural!

This collaborative art work: “Find Your Confidence”, was the ‘mobile mural’ part of a public mural in their school, Aberfoyle Park High School in South Australia, which takes the mural inside on a canvas, it was painted alongside the large wall mural. This collaborative art work was created in a freeform style – in a guided spontaneous form, with the girls directed to start painting circles, spirals and dots of different sizes and colours, then adding to the elements of each other, adding layers of patterns and marks, building on the visual complexity over several weeks.

Reflection:

This collaborative art work was created by a group of teenage girls. They painted out in public, building their confidence, realising they can do MORE than they may have thought possible – that people walking past watching them paint could be ‘zoned out’, and in fact those people were highly complimentary about what they were creating!

Aspire to Success by Using the ‘Success Strategies’ of Collaborative Art Projects.

This collaborative art work “Aspire to Success” was created by 120 junior primary students over three sessions and relates to the school logo of IQRA College in South Australia. The kids had a great time in several rotating groups, each level of kids doing a different stage – the reception kids did ‘Messy Playing’ with sponging, stencilling and scraping, the grade 1’s did ‘Exploring’ with medium and small brushes, and the grade 2’s did ‘Bling!’ with paint pens, stickers and glitter glue. SO many kids! This is a detail from 2 collaborative art projects created over three sessions.

Reflection:

This is one of two large canvases – needed with this many children, that’s for sure! The teachers told me of some children did more in this novel situation than they would in the regular classroom – it’s the novelty and the ‘group painting’ that enables shy children to be more adventurous as they can in some ways hide as they create with each other – moving around and being free to explore. They build their creative confidence and can then feel more able to create in their individual art.

In this collaborative artwork, created in only one session, we used brushwork, stamping, layering and overlapping. It has a mixed colour palette. These days I would have a coloured background (the underpainting) and then layer cool then warm colours. Really, a background that is not stark white is a game changer! There’s many ways of doing it – one colour, an ombre, using spray paint, using blotches of colours – all impact the final artwork, and most of all – an underpainting frees people to begin! That white canvas is very much a visual block.

Reflection:

This was the first collaborative art work I did with a group of fellow parent carers in our “Parents Time Out” activity for mums with children with special educational needs. This is when I first felt the thrill of collaborative art, and led to the hundreds of artworks created with over two thousand people so far.

3 Collaborative Art Works – Conclusion:

These three collaborative art works show how a variety of groups of people – young children, teenagers and adults enjoy creating together, and in doing so paint truly unique artworks developed from the dynamics of their group – whether that be ten ladies or 120 little kids just starting school. They have fun!

Discover how to create collaborative art works like these – Join my Inner Circle email list so I can give you “Starting Your First Social Art Project at Home”, my free 7 page step by step guide making it effortless for you to paint a unique artwork using my three fun stages with a group of people in your life.

– Charndra, Your Inclusive Social Art Guide.

Let’s Chat:

I love spirals. Circles turn into spirals. Big, small, open or tight spirals look great on an artwork – they are my favourite shape.

What’s your favourite shape?

Our Autumn Banner – an Exciting Collaborative Art Project for Primary Schools.

A collaborative art project for primary schools: ‘Our Autumn Banner’

This painted canvas banner was created with children in a vacation or holiday care program. It was my first circle painting project with kids. I Loved it. I’d done many murals and other group projects when I was a high school art teacher, but this type of collaborative art was just so terribly exciting for me – I love the energy I get from watching the thrill, enjoyment and peace of the kids when creating this way. There’s nothing like it!

Start With a Circle!

The canvas banner had a russet colour, so we used pre-mixed autumn colours for our limited colour scheme. Limited colour schemes are key! Colours such as dusky pinks, browns, oranges, warm reds, ochres, golds, as well as silver and some black. Far more options than I would use at any one time these days, with so many projects completed. To create this collaborative art project the primary school aged kids began with a circle, as this is how all circle painting begins. We add another circle, perhaps a bigger one, then another. We go from there, outlining someone else’s circle, changing to a different colour, doing some dots or interesting patterns around a circle. We move to the other side of the canvas and see where our circles might be needed. We add some dots. Dots are found in the earliest art of so many cultures around the world. We used glitter paint for our BLING stage!

Embracing Overlap!

One focus of creating this artwork was to accept layering – that partially covering the work of each other really builds up the richness of the surface and looks GREAT! It gives interesting shapes, new shapes to interact with, new ideas to repeat. A little bit of the layer below always shows through, giving us glimpses of the earlier layers as we become more confident in playing with the paint and the shapes.

No Mistakes – Just Differences…

Another focus was that there are no mistakes – just differences that will look great as a whole. The first hour was almost silent as the kids focused so intently on exploring their visual creativity while ‘in the zone’… Then they got to chatting as they moved around, experimented, trying different colours, brushes and shapes as I encouraged them to overlap, copy each other and try ideas from the set of colourful circle- based artworks we looked over before starting to paint.

A Collaborative Art Project for Primary Schools – Conclusion:

This project resulted in a beautifully autumn flavoured banner that still catches the eye of anyone entering the OSHC space. It’s warm and busy and has so many areas for your eyes to wander around. This was my first collaborative art project in a primary school. It is quite simple. I have now done over 60 projects with more than 2000 people. WOW. Today, I would add more layers – in fact at my next visit to the school we will be doing that, adding a new layer with the mostly different collection of children, and calling the project “Autumn Banner Redux”. I’ll be sure to show the results in a future post.

Our Collaborative Art Project Was a Success!

Discover how to create collaborative art projects like these for your primary school – Join my Inner Circle email list so I can give you “Starting Your First Social Art Project at Home”, my free 7 page step by step guide making it effortless for you to paint a unique artwork using my three fun stages with a group of people in your life. I love collaborative social art and want to share it with you!

– Charndra, Your Inclusive Social Art Guide.

Let’s chat:

How would collaborative art projects for primary schools enhance creativity and community among students?

Four Inspiring Collaborative Art Projects to Spark Your Creativity (Created with Groups) from Painting Around is Fun!

Exploring Collaborative Art Projects for All Ages

Let’s check out these four inspiring collaborative art projects. They were created with a range of people, including kids, children and teens. Adults and people living with disabilities also participated. Everyone is creative and always enjoy the thrill of painting around each other! All these social artworks were painted by groups of people.

The Magic of Collaborative Art Projects

Collaborative art has a unique energy. When many people (even a couple of us) come together, each brings their own flair and creativity. The outcome is a rich, layered blend of ideas. It extends beyond what one person achieves alone. This process fosters a unique shared vision. I call my form of collaborative art inclusive social art.

In this blog post, I’ll introduce you to four examples of these collaborative art projects. These artworks were created with myself as the social art guide. They were collectively painted by more than 450 people.

“Growing Together” – A Collaborative Art Project Created With Children.

This collaborative art project involved 30 primary school children aged 4-13. They participated in a summer holiday or vacation care program over three sessions. This was he first time they had done such a project, and wow, were they proud of the result!

A collaborative art project showing a swirling artwork of cool blues, greens and purples. — “Growing Together’ Collaborative Art Projects are Fun to Create!

Reflection: This painting taught us the importance of sharing space together. Thirty kids painted around each other during the sessions called Messy Playing, Exploring, and BLING! It all came together in this beautiful cooperative piece of art.

“Mia’s Rose” – One of the Collaborative Art Projects Created with My Daughter.

This collaborative art project was created by my daughter and I from when she was about 18 months old. Each 5 minute session we used either a blue or a pink, with some white. I’d offer her different sized brushes and stamps like balloons and other items to transfer paint on the canvas. Ten years later, this door-sized canvas hangs on her bedroom wall. We periodically add new layers. Purple is her new favourite colour, so that will be added next. We’ve painted through toddler, to preschooler, to primary school!

An abstract collaborative art project with blues and pinks created by a mother and daughter team. — “Mia’s Rose” a 2 person collaborative art project

Reflection: This artwork showcases how much fun collaborative art projects are for children. Even a five minute session was enough for a toddler. She enjoyed the creative control of choosing the colour each time, the equipment used (balloons, stencils, stamps, brushes…) Can you see our cat?

“Safety” – One Of A Set Of Two Collaborative Art Projects Created With Teenagers.

"Safety', an artwork of swirling light and dark blues, greens and purples. — “Safety” An inclusive Social Artwork created by teenagers.

Reflection: This artwork showcases how a group of teenagers who had never met each other can create something extraordinary. They did this in only a few hours. They key is a limited colour scheme and closed choices – simple “Pattern Play” ideas to copy. I have MANY Pattern Play visual resources to help you create beautiful layers!

“Community” – From A Set of Three Collaborative Art Projects Created With Members of the Public.

During the inaugural Art Story Artist in Residence program at Westfield Marion in 2022, I engaged with the public. I spent two weeks painting with over 600 members. We worked on three collaborative art projects. We worked on this one every day. One was in cool colours and another in warm colours. This one had both. On any day, we added layers of patterns in either warm or cool colours. This ensured that we had no muddy colours blotching up our artworks.

Colourful collaborative art project created by a large group of people — ‘Community’, an inclusive social art project

Reflection: This project was a testament to the power of community, with everybody working together to create something beautiful. Hundreds of people added their marks to this piece over the two week program.

Conclusion:

Collaborative art projects are fun and look best when they turn out well. No one wants to end up with muddy colors. To keep it eye-catching, use a limited color palette. Layer warm and cool colors separately when dry to avoid mixing them. This way, everyone can be proud of their unique creation and eager to share it!

Discover how to create collaborative art projects like these. Join my Inner Circle email list to get “Starting Your First Social Art Project at Home”. This is my free 7 page step by step guide. Creating a unique artwork is effortless. Use my three fun stages with a group of people in your life. I love collaborative social art and want to share it with you!

Let’s Chat!

Trends in colour palettes change all the time. My favourite is called “Utopia”. I’ve based it on the series of that name. This inspired a series of collaborative artworks. I’m painting these artworks with my kids. What’s your favourite colour scheme at the moment? (Do you have a name for it?)

Discover how to do collaborative art. Welcome to Painting Around is Fun!

Hello World! Welcome to Painting Around is FUN!

Painting Around is Fun is where I share my collaborative, inclusive social art projects created with groups of people. Anyone, of any age or ability, can join in—like YOU!

Here’s how Pattern Play Collaborative Art works:

Messy Playing:

Start with a coloured canvas. Use big brushes to create circles, spirals, and arches along the edges. Add clusters of marks like dots, dashes, and simple swirls.

Exploring:

Use medium, then smaller brushes to layer patterns from my unique ‘Pattern Play’ resources over the artwork. You’ll interact with what other painters are adding, embracing overlapping and building up the piece together.

Bling!:

Add the finishing touches with patterns and decorative elements using paint pens. You can add some sparkle with gems. Glitter works great too. Use gold leaf to finish the artwork with a touch of bling.

Here are several of the many collaborative group artworks I have created since 2017. I did my first collaborative art project, Our Autumn Banner, with a group of twelve primary school kids. I was hooked!

My Name is Charndra. (Like ‘Sandra’ with a ‘Ch’)

I’m a high school art teacher, and I’m also a behaviour therapist for my son, who has special needs. As a parent and carer, I now focus on being an Inclusive Social Artist. I share the fun of making art together in groups. This is done one project at a time. All my experiences have led to developing a style of collaborative art. I call this style ‘Pattern Play Collaborative Art’ based on the inclusive patterns we layer.

You’ll love my unique way of creating art together!

Painting with a group of friends is so much fun. You can watch the artwork grow as everyone adds their touch. My ‘Pattern Play’ resources make it easy to be creative. Just enjoy the process—no pressure. Don’t worry about comparing your work to others. You’ll be amazed at what a group can achieve together, and the approach I’ve developed always leads to success!

The artworks start out blank, but they will turn out GREAT!

I have an email group called my ‘Inner Circle’ because we always start with circles in our projects. Each week, I share a peek into the 60+ projects I’ve created with over 2,000 people across South Australia.

I invite you to join my Inner Circle today! You’ll get “Starting Your First Social Art Project at Home.” It’s a free 7-page step-by-step guide. It makes it easy to create a unique artwork with a group of friends or family. I’m passionate about collaborative social art and excited to share this experience with you!

– Charndra, Your Inclusive Social Art Guide.

Let’s Chat.

Are you keen to try this form of collaborative social art? It’s called ‘Pattern Play Collaborative Art’ because we layer approachable and accessible patterns from my ‘Pattern Play’ visual resources. Feel free to ask a question below that I can respond to. That’d be nice, as I mostly get annoying bots and scammers.

Painting Around is FUN! Painting Collaborative and Inclusive Social Art Projects

Join the Fun: Collaborative and Inclusive Social Art Projects!

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