DIY Abstract Art How-to

I love to paint.

Am I good at it? No. At least not at painting objects in such a way that you can actually tell what I am painting.

Lately I've been trying to make some abstract art for the apartment, and let me tell you- it isn't easy.

I know, I know- I've been that person at the museum too who looks at a canvas with a big square on it and said "REALLY!? A four year old could do that!" I know, I'm a jerk. Don't act like you've never done it. Or maybe you haven't, because you're a better person than I am. Well, allow me to insert my foot into my mouth, because after many attempts- I've found abstract art is actually kind of difficult. After trying a few techniques, I finally settled on a triptych I like for the dining room. 

Here's how I made it happen:

Step 1: To create a base for the painting I just randomly swirled some white and mint green paint on the canvases, and made light, sweeping motions to cover the canvas without fully blending the colors. 

Step 2: I started with the mint green again and laid out a sloppy vertical line down the canvas. I made light sweeping motions with a foam paintbrush left, right, left, right to leave a pattern vertically down the canvas.

 Step 3: I simply repeated step 2 with a turquoise, and then a navy blue, each time moving a little to the right of the previous design, allowing for a slight overlap:

 Step 4: Then I began layering the colors once again, starting with white, mint, turquoise, and navy. It's important to give each color a few seconds to dry between coats so the paint is still wet enough to blend a little, but not fully mix to become one solid color.

 And after a few variations of the paintings I was left with these babies:

 Not currently perfectly centered and straight- but you all know I am wayyy to impatient to make that perfect before snapping pictures. Maybe someday when I'm an oh-so-famous blogger (coughsarcasmcough) I'll make the perfection happen. Until then, here's what we've got!

Will YOU be attempting some abstract art this week? If you have any other tips, please share!
xo,lp

***Note- beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's possible you'll hate what I've created. If so, please, try abstract art on your own before being negative. Trust me, I learned my lesson from being the negative Nancy in the art museums***