Banner with text "Art & Education Sharon L. Ciccone" over a yellow circle, surrounded by green leaves on a white background.

Make Your Mark Monday

Smiling woman holding a framed botanical artwork with green and purple leaves in front of a white brick wall.
Person in a classroom smiling at the camera, with curly hair and wearing a blue blazer and red patterned blouse.

Bi-weekly art making prompts and creative strategies to get you creating, questions and artistic inspiration to get you thinking.

Hi, I’m Sharon.

I am a nature inspired mixed media artist and art educator, supporting artists on their path to creating meaningful art through their personal voice and individual art practice.

Are you struggling with how to begin your next artwork?

Join me every other week as I introduce you to a step by step process for generating ideas that are designed to provide personally meaningful art, creative conceptual and practical strategies to push you creatively, and questions to get you thinking deeply about your own practice.

Making Your Mark with Your Own Art

  • Prompts to Get You Working

    Two opposing ideas are given to provide choice and an opportunity to explore one ot two ideas in juxtaposition. Combining the prompts with creative strategies will give you new ways to go deeper into the meaning of your work. I share through video how I think and solve the problem in my own artwork.

    Art prompt featuring a bird painting and instructions for creating art using different mediums and sharing on social media.

  • Strategies to Stretch Your Creativity

    Creative strategies are designed to lead you toward a different way of working and challenging you to try different methods of producing work. You can also find more ways of thinking about the strategies through my blog.

    Instructions on combining unexpected and planned strategies for creative design, with stacked cubes displaying phrases like 'Think Random' and 'Spin on Dots'.

  • Questions to Get You Thinking

    Questions are designed to get you thinking about your artistic process and to push you to go deeper into the “why?” behind your practice. I would love to hear how you think about these questions.

    Art supplies including paints, brushes, and a palette are shown on a table. A partially painted canvas with a bird is in the background. The text reads: "How do you leave room for the unexpected within your plan? Check out my video for examples and additional strategies." There is a link to a YouTube video titled "Planned and Unexpected."

  • See What is on My Easel

    Follow my own artistic journey from gathering ideas and inspiration to completion of a series. I love to share my trials and tribulations as I work through the mistakes and ugly phases of my work to the completion of a series. Its all here.

    Four abstract paintings featuring lotus flowers in various stages of bloom, with vibrant colors and textured backgrounds, part of a water series.

  • Something to Inspire

    Inspiration comes from many sources. As I discover new sources of inspiration I will share them with you. I would love to hear about what inspires you.

    Inspirational newsletter featuring art with the text "Surprise Yourself," artist Lewis Noble offering insights on collage, and a prompt to view the last newsletter.

  • For the Love of Learning

    There are so many great resources for learning about ourselves, other artists, and the art world. I love learning and I love sharing with everyone what I have learned. .

    Cover of the book 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear with accompanying promotional text emphasizing its focus on building good habits and changing systems.
Abstract art featuring a stylized bird, geometric patterns, and layered text with letters A, B, C, E, G. Color palette includes muted greens, blues, pinks, and reds.

Come Make Your Mark with Your Art on Monday