Palm Treat creative director Jeff Nolan & Dingus, a cat.

How To Make Art and How To Emulate 1960s Counterculture

Pop art is important and reflects the 1960s counterculture, which is an Americana staple. Palm Treat is located on the East Coast in Philadelphia and admire artists Peter Max and Milton Glaser.

Marie Nolan and Jeff Nolan are interested in anti-war movement art and the hippie counterculture community. Examining this kind of artwork is the first step to making art.

The most important thing to do is start with an idea. An artistic idea begins with a thought, an artistic plan, and an art medium to complete this thought. An artistic thought is a subject such as a portrait of a woman. A plan can be to paint the portrait on a canvas, linoleum, wood, etc. An artist medium can be acrylic paint, gouache, eggshell paint, and even house paint. To start a painting, take your thought and make thumbnail sketches (small sketches of how you plan to fit the portrait onto the canvas).

Spend as much time as you can in this artistic phase to achieve the perfect composition. When satisfied with your composition, draw your image carefully onto your canvas. Find a bright and interesting color scheme and start painting. The coolest thing about psychedelic art is the ability to add innovative typography, personal stylization of details, diffraction patterns, and other unique techniques. If it gets weird and turns out not exactly the way the painting was planned, then you're doing it right.

Palm Treat's Jeff Nolan and Marie Nolan are inspired by pop art, outsider art, folk art, metaphysical and surrealistic subject matters. Check out Palm Treat's website for more work and artistic adventures!