We recently connected with Mónica Linares and have shared our conversation below.

Mónica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on and continue working on was creating the class The Happy Habit of Daily (or most days) Painting.

I’m an artist, and I also coordinate painting workshops for well-known artists, but it wasn’t until about 6 years ago that I realized that my work wasn’t getting better. The cause? I wasn’t painting often enough! My days were filled with the business side of coordinating the workshops, planning, promotion, website maintenance, and of course family life and everything this brings. What else I realized? That I wasn’t the only one having this problem!

Some of us weren’t fully taking advantage of these incredible painting workshops by amazing instructors. Why? because as soon as the workshop ended we didn’t put all of that into our daily practice. We just put away our supplies until the next class and painting went down to the bottom of the priority list.

I decided to do some research and solve this problem. How can we make painting a daily priority? And that’s when I thought about habit formation. Habits happen automatically, without effort. What if we train ourselves to go to our easel/studio every day in the same automatic way we make coffee or brush our teeth? What happens on the canvas is not the habit, getting there every day and making a start is!

I read many wonderful books about habit formation, applied them to my painting routine, and it worked! I now paint most days! Forming this habit wasn’t that easy, but it was 100% doable! And more so if others could have what I didn’t, somebody to guide them and offer accountability on their journey towards daily painting. So that’s why I created the class, and teaching it has been the most meaningful project I have ever worked on. My students have become the most amazing painting tribe an artist could dream of …and seeing their growth as artists by forming the habit of daily (or almost daily) painting confirms that there was a problem and The Happy Habit helped them solve it!

And I thought, with a class I can reach just a bunch of students at a time. How can I share this with more artists? By writing a book about it! And that’s what I’m working on right now.

Mónica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been painting for about 22 years. I officially started when my husband and I just got married and moved to the United States in 1999. He was going for his master’s degree and I first needed to learn English…but I also wanted to explore painting, so I took many painting and drawing classes at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

When we moved to NC in 2001, I wanted to continue this “painting path” while also working in advertising (yes, that’s my degree!).

Two kids and one incredible painting workshop later, my calling (one of them!) found me: coordinating painting workshops by well-known and inspiring artists; that’s how Painting Miles, my business, started.

While I managed my business, I kept painting and teaching others how to paint but it wasn’t until I formed the habit of most days painting that I became a professional artist. Painting frequently allowed me to explore and learn and find what I really love to paint, and it also allowed me to feel a congruency with what I say I am, an artist! It really makes me a happier person. And sharing this process with other artists through my class The Happy Habit, continuously enriches my life… our lives!

Finding our unique artistic voice comes not just from planning and thinking (or posting!) but by creating, by actually doing with our own hands the thing we love: to paint (very often!)

By painting almost daily I learned that I love color and shapes but mostly simplifying what I see. Eliminating details and leaving just what’s enough to say this is a flower, or a building, or a living room. I’m still learning and evolving and want to be able to simplify even more, and add details and lines in just some areas of a piece.

Painting frequently and small also allows me to have many originals available for sale. I usually paint in series so I can get better at the subject I’m working on at the moment. Don’t be surprised if when looking for my work you see many pieces with the same subject.

Right now you can find my paintings at the North Carolina Museum of Art store, the Mattie King Davies gallery in Beaufort, NC, and soon, after I finish writing my book, more pieces will be available online. If you want my guidance and support while forming the habit of daily or most days painting, go to my website and subscribe to my newsletter so you can be the first to know when I schedule the next Happy Habit class or workshop. That’s my passion and I LOVE sharing it with other artists wanting to get better at painting or simply getting into the fabulous practice of painting most days.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I thought that to be able to paint we needed to have at least 2 or 3 hours available for it …and believing that stopped me from painting some days (and weeks).

I learned that if you have a designated area for painting in your home, a place where you can leave everything ready to keep painting next time you are there, you can easily paint even if you have just 5 minutes for it. Learning this allowed me to paint more often and to get better at painting!

I learned about this while working on forming the habit of daily painting.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I don’t have a huge following and I’m not an expert on social media either (it changes so often!), but after years of using first Facebook and now Instagram, I have learned that we cannot dedicate more time to social media than we dedicate to our own creative process (not even half the time!). I would say that 30 – 45 minutes of social media a day should be more than enough for our own art (or lives) not to suffer.

I have also learned that the amount of followers is not as important as having an engaged and tight community. People that trust us or feel inspired by us. People that would like to learn from us or buy our pieces. People trully interested in what we think or how we do things. People wanting to connect. We need to think about this smaller group, not the whole world. Because we are creating for a group that connects with us and our art, we are not creating for everybody. So, again, do not get discouraged when you see artists on social media having thousands or millions of followers. Keep showing up for your smaller group, the ones that really care about what you have to say.

I would also think twice before posting. If I do not love it, I do not post it. Your social media is a window to your work. It is your portfolio! Show what you are proud of.

Also, very important, there is no excuse these days to post a blurry, dark or badly cropped image. Again, it is your portfolio! if it doesn’t look well to you, do not post it. People will leave your page if they see bad images. And do not feel the pressure to follow all trends outhere, not everything is for everybody. (Some of those trends are time consuming, I rather spend that time painting).

And last but not least, use social media to direct your followers to subscribe to your newsletter and to find your website. Your website and newsletter are the best solid and stable tools an artist can have. You have total control over them, not over Instagram or Tic-Toc…they could go away or change at any time. Sharing valuable content with those who sign up to receive your newsletter will be the best way to keep them engage, and to sell your pieces or courses.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.monicalinares.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monicalinaresart/
• Other: Join my newsletter community: https://www.monicalinares.com/my-newsletter/