Arpita Sharma

About Arpita Sharma

https://www.arpitasharma.net

Posts by Arpita Sharma:

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How to find your artistic style?

Developing a style – One of the main things that separate a hobby artist from a professional is having their own voice, content, and style. How do you develop your own style?

1) Explore

Create a list of artists/artworks you like on Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest and identify what you like most about their work. Is it the way they paint their brush strokes? Is it the objects or people they focus on? Is it the medium they use? Was there a composition style that really appealed to you? I’ve created a google drive sheet to help you get started with this. Go to the link here and copy the file into your own google drive to begin adding content.

2) Identify

Once you have filled out this sheet, go through it, and identify common themes that came up for each area. What medium style did you gravitate towards most? What subject matter really caught your eye? Create a list of the top three styles you would like to try.

3) Experiment

Now you have the top three styles you would like to incorporate into your work, but you don’t know how they would fit them together or whether you have the skills to create them. This is where the true work of an artist comes in. You can explore different YouTube videos, look for basic tutorials on Pinterest or Instagram, or for more complicated pieces, take classes online or in-person to experiment.

It’s important to remember when you are doing this, that any ideas you explore don’t have to be permanent. You may like a style for a short while, and then want to switch over to something else. You might feel inspired by certain topics or themes later that you had not seen in your initial exploration. That is why it’s important to go back frequently and note down any artworks or artists that really inspire you. The more you do this, the more quickly and easily you will be able to refine your style and grow as an artist.

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Top 5 Watercolor and Acrylic Painting Tutorials

Here are five free watercolor and acrylic painting tutorials you can follow along with to build your skills as an artist. I am sharing the ones I have found most helpful along with the paintings I have made while watching them. I hope this post helps you create some beautiful art pieces and build new skills.

1) Watercolor Painting: Let’s Make Art (Skill Level – Easy)

Sarah Clay is my favorite watercolor Youtube trainer. I used her videos to learn how to create my first giraffe painting for one of my coworkers. Having worked minimally with watercolor paints before, I didn’t understand the basics. However, she really helped me understand the difference between watercolor and acrylics and how to use them. Since then, I have used the skills I learned to create other watercolor animals. Above, you will find a link to her giraffe video and below, a picture of how mine came out. I didn’t use the same reference image as her, so it doesn’t match, but I was still very happy with the result.

watercolor-painting-tutorial of giraffe

2) Acrylic Painting: Paint with Shiba (Skill Level – Easy)

If you are just starting out with acrylics and don’t want to invest in lots of canvases or paints, you will like this artist. He uses flat, page sized boards (which you can purchase at the dollar store) and will teach you some useful techniques. I tried one of his tutorials and it was easy and simple to follow along with. 

Free_Acrylic_painting_tutorial

3) Acrylic Painting: ColorbyFelix (Skill Level – Medium/Advanced)

Felix is an amazing artist and teacher. I had previous experience using acrylics when I started following him, so his training in mixing colors, and creating depth in paintings didn’t seem boring or redundant. In fact, I have used a couple of his tutorials to create several 16 inch by 20 inch canvas paintings. I definitely had to pause the videos to follow along, but it was totally worth it. Below you will see a fall landscape tutorial he made and the version that I was able to create following along with him. 

Free_Acrylic_Painting_Tutorial_youtube

4) Acrylic Painting: Palette Knife Painting Tutorials (Skill Level – Medium/Advanced)

This channel is wonderful if you have some basic knowledge of acrylics and some palette knives lying around. I had to purchase some and wait before I could start doing this one. Once they arrived, I used this tutorial to create the rainbow forest painting for a friend and I loved how it came out. I was surprised that it was easier than I was expecting. I think you will be surprised too!

Acrylic_Painting_Tutorial

5) Watercolor Painting: MarenaArt Tutorials (Skill level – Medium/Advanced)

I love the tutorials on ocean paintings from this channel. The artist who teaches has a great skill for sharing new techniques and ideas for those that have some skill but want to learn more. I’ve been using her techniques to teach my friends how to make new paintings. I highly recommend her and think you would really enjoy her work.

If you read all the way to the end, I hope you found this list of free watercolor and acrylic painting tutorials helpful! If you have any tutorials you would recommend, please leave them in the comments below, I would love to learn about more. Also, if you have any friends that may be interested in this article, please feel free to share.

Best,

Arpita

Cross-Sector Partnerships Increasing Entrepreneurship Among People of Color

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Business ownership is a critical avenue for entrepreneurs of color to close the racial wealth gap. Increasing entrepreneurship among people of color can create income for both the entrepreneurs themselves and the people of color who work at the businesses. Unfortunately, despite federal policies to prevent discrimination against minorities and low- and moderate-income borrowers, entrepreneurs of color continue to experience higher loan denial probabilities and pay higher interest rates than white-owned businesses, even after controlling for differences in creditworthiness.

However, there are some unique cross-sector partnerships to address these barriers, empowering entrepreneurs of color by helping raise awareness of their presence in the larger business community, helping increase their skills and network, and increasing access to debt and equity capital available to them through innovative models. Below are examples:

 

Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI)

 

SLEI is a collaboration between Stanford University and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), a nonprofit entrepreneurship organization based in Palo Alto, California with a vision to strengthen the United States by improving the lives of Latinos through entrepreneurship education and a support network. SLEI explores and expands knowledge of the Latino entrepreneurship segment in the economy through research, knowledge dissemination, and facilitated collaboration. The joint effort aims to grow the current database of more than 1.3 million U.S. Latino-owned companies and survey a panel of more than 5,000 independent companies as well as support the advancement of knowledge and discourse by generating significant research and broadly disseminating its findings. In addition to research, LBAN sponsors an immersive SLEI Education Scaling program, which is facilitated by the Stanford University’s Global School of Business. The program provides business owners with education, enhanced networks, personal mentorship, and a better understanding of how to access capital to scale their businesses. It’s an investment in Latino business owners who generate more than $1 million in annual revenue or have raised at least $500,000 of external funding. The program has more than 350 alumni from 25 states and Puerto Rico who collectively generate over $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

 

Detroit’s Entrepreneurs of Color Fund

 

Launched in 2015, the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund provides loan capital to Detroit’s entrepreneurs of color and to neighborhood-based small businesses who primarily hire local residents. The Fund is a successful example of a city-business-nonprofit partnership to support minority-owned businesses. It is a partnership between JP Morgan Chase, the W.K Kellogg Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, the Kresge Foundation, and the Detroit Development Fund. Detroit Development Fund, the nonprofit that manages the fund, has channeled $4.5 million to 43 minority-owned small businesses, of which 53% are owned by women. In 2017, during which JP Morgan Chase, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, the Kresge Foundation, and others announced significant new investments in Detroit’s Entrepreneurs of Color Fund (EOCF), tripling the fund’s value from $6 million to $18 million. That funding, combined with technical assistance, can provide a ladder that allows a business to graduate to being loan eligible by major financial institutions.  Of the 43 businesses funded, none would have qualified for traditional bank lending. The University of Michigan’s Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs project and other providers have contributed to the zero percent default rate of the program by providing technical assistance to entrepreneurs to help them succeed.

Oakland, California: Kiva Loan Fund


In 2016, the City of Oakland partnered with Kiva, a nonprofit microfinance company, to facilitate local residents in providing zero-percent interest crowdfunded loans to hundreds of area small business with a social mission and business owners who historically have been excluded from mainstream lending. Oakland residents browse through business owners’ profiles and can lend $25 or more towards a borrower’s full loan request. Once residents have funded 100 percent of the requested loan amount, the borrower can access the capital. The City of Oakland, OBDC Small Business Finance, Capital One, and the Miller Family Foundation match every dollar that individuals lend to an Oakland borrower, up to $225,000. Kiva has closed more than 530 zero-percent interest loans, of which 90 percent supported businesses owned by people of color, and 70 percent were owned specifically by women of color. The City of Long Beach has adopted a similar model, partnering with Kiva and the Los Angeles Local Initiative Support Corporation (LA LISC) to provide zero-percent interest crowdfunded loans with up to a 36-month repayment period. Borrowers can obtain loans between $500 and $10,000 through the program and LA LISC will match loan contributions made to Long Beach.

 

Prosper Portland Venture Capital Funds

 

The Portland Elevate Inclusive Fund and the Portland Elevate Capital Fund are examples of a private-public partnership to create a unique equity solution that increase the available capital for minority-owned and women-owned businesses. Prosper Portland invested in creating a fund for startups to fill the most critical gap in funding for growing companies, increasing the job creation prospects for startup firms and the pipeline of viable companies for later stage investors. Prosper Portland and Multnomah County each individually committed $500,000 and the State of Oregon committed $250,000 to the Elevate Inclusive Fund to encourage investors to provide early seed investment and series A stage type investments in the Capital Fund. The fund provides $25,000 to $75,000 in early seed investments from its Inclusive Fund and up to $500,000 in seed and series A stage type investments from the Capital Fund. Elevate Capital, a Pacific Northwest-based venture firm that invests in early-stage underrepresented entrepreneurs, including women and minorities that include communities of color, veterans, and entrepreneurs located in underserved regions, was selected by Prosper Portland to manage the money. Thus far it has made investments in its first cohort of six women- and minority-led startups.

Five Sources of Housing Data

Are you a researcher struggling to find data on housing issues in the United States? Here are five publicly available datasets that might help you.

1) American Community Survey (ACS)

First, let’s talk about ACS data. The ACS is an annual survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau that provides demographic, economic, and housing information of the U.S. population. You can use ACS microdata at the county and metropolitan statistical area level through the IPUMS USA website to analyze variables including age, race, ethnicity, median household income, household characteristics, and household composition. It is useful for gathering background data on housing markets.

2) American Housing Survey (AHS)

The AHS, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the first on our list. It is a biannual national survey that provides current and continuous data on selected housing and demographic characteristics, similar to the ACS. This dataset is useful for analyzing the size and composition of the nation’s housing inventory, vacancies, the physical condition of housing units, characteristics of occupants, mortgages and other housing costs, home values, and the characteristics of recent movers.

3) Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data

In addition to AHS data, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development receives custom tabulations of ACS data known as the “CHAS” data. CHAS data demonstrates the extent of housing problems and housing needs, particularly for low-income households. You can use this data to analyze the number of households by area median income.

4) Building Permits Survey Data

The U.S. Census also provides data on building permits monthly, year-to-date, and annually. The data is available nationally, for states, counties, cities and for selected metropolitan areas. You can use it to understand the projected changes in housing supply for the market.

5) City Data

Finally, if you are working on housing research at the local level, check where your city has publicly available data sources online or on their servers. For example, the City of Los Angeles has a website with open data on topics such as the economy, transportation, public safety, and the environment. If you are looking for parcel-level data, LA also has a website called Zimas that can help. Smaller cities may not have as much information available online, but parcel level data may be accessible if you go to their administrative buildings.

Now that you are armored with this information, let me know if any of these datasets were useful to you in the comments below. I’d love to know how you used them and if you know of any others.

Starting your own nonprofit? Here are 3 exercises to help you plan more effectively.

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You are passionate, driven, and excited to pursue your dream of starting your own nonprofit. You want to make an impact on an issue that has a deep and powerful meaning to you. So, what are strategies you can use to build a strategic vision and create an effective structure for your organization? As a professional with years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, I know how challenging management can be. There are many reasons that nonprofits fail to take off or lack impact. I have experienced many of these failures in either starting my own nonprofit or working for other organizations. In the process, I have learned difficult lessons about the importance of clear forethought and strategy in building an effective org. In this article I will walk through three simple exercises you can use to maximize your nonprofit’s long-run impact.

1) Theory of Change

First, we will talk about is the Theory of Change model. This tool helps you clarify your intentions, expected outcomes, and your actions. The DIY Toolkit has a useful Theory of Change template you can use to get started. Filling in the template can help you make a roadmap for your future actions. Doing this exercise will help you understand what outcomes you want to see and figure out how to measure your nonprofit’s success. Doing this exercise can even help you better define your approach and reasoning for your organization. Finally, you should do it because having a thought-out theory increases the chances that you will get results that have the greatest meaning to you.

2) Business Model Canvas 

Second is the business model canvas. It is easy to become overwhelmed by managing the day-to-day of your nonprofit. Maintaining sight of the resources you need for your organization to flow and function is challenging. The Business Model Canvas is a one-page tool that visualizes the basic logic of how a nonprofit delivers value. Strategyzer has a detailed website about the Business Model Canvas with free downloadable templates you can use. Similar to the Theory of Change, this tool is helpful in thinking through your approach to organizational development. This is because it helps you think through how your nonprofit delivers services, establishes partnerships, finds funding, and more.

3) SWOT Analysis

Lastly, lets talk about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. A SWOT analysis is one of the most useful strategies to determine your next steps. Mind Tools has a free template which guides you through the process. This tool provides you develop objective insight into your organization’s current state. It shows you how to use opportunities to build, expand, and shape your nonprofit. Many nonprofits use it when they go on annual retreats or are confronted with challenging decisions. By using it from the start, you will better learn how to leverage your organization’s strengths.

Finally, now that I have shared these strategies, I would love to hear from you.

Please let me know in the comments below if you found any of these useful and if there are any tools you would recommend to other nonprofit leaders.