The Art of Solitaire: My Collaboration with Flick Games

This year feels like the year of collaborations.

I’ve been trying to make it as an artist for as long as I’ve been an artist. And let me tell you, it has been a journey.

The easiest thing to do is come up with all the big ideas that will catapult you to where you want to be. The hardest thing is doing the little things consistently for ten years, slowly finding yourself somewhere you never expected. I spent a lot of time and effort chasing the first one. Somewhere along the way, it turned into the second.

My collaboration with Flick Games on The Art of Solitaire is one of those places I never expected to find myself.

When I started, I knew fitting into the art world would be a tall task. I knew nothing about it, and I had zero connections. What I did have was an idea: take care of the people who were closest to me and interested in my work.

It was easy to look at 100 followers on social media and think that wasn’t much. But I pictured 100 actual people walking behind me. A whole crowd of people choosing to follow what I was doing. That was enough for me to make a commitment to connect with them. Every new follower got a personal message. Every painting and print I sold went out with a personal letter. Those small exchanges helped me build real connections and confidence in my work and my brand. From there, I started spreading my work across different websites. I was still working toward the big idea, but I was learning that the individual connections were the key. I sold more paintings. Those buyers told their friends. Some people wanted a piece for their home. Others had ideas about how we could work together on something they were building.

In 2024, I was having the time of my life. I was making so many new connections, selling paintings, traveling, and showing my work. I made a few international sales, and those buyers turned into lifelong friends. I had no idea those relationships would open up an entirely new category for me to work in: Game Design.

One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was working with Flick Games on The Art of Solitaire. I couldn’t have dreamt this up. I didn’t even think I had an interest in creating in this lane. But there I was, bringing my work into a game and learning what that could look like. The project pushed me to be intentional about the collection I was creating. It required discipline and the project management skills to get the work finished on time. It also gave me time and space to practice trusting myself. Trusting that what I was creating was good. Trusting that it made sense, even in a space that was new to me.

This was my first big collaboration, and it helped push me into the commercial art space. It gave me a little leverage to negotiate with brands I had dreamed of working for. Instead, I found myself working with them.

That distinction means something to me.

When I think about how this happened, I keep coming back to the same thing. It started with being intentional with the people closest to me. The people who love my work for what it is. The people who support me when no one is looking.

A personal message. A handwritten letter. A painting finding its way into someone’s home. At the time, I didn’t know where any of those things would lead. I just knew those people deserved my attention.

Ten years of little things brought me somewhere I never thought to put on the list of big ideas.

My deck on The Art of Solitaire releases on December 1st 2026. Download it in the Apple or Android App Store and look for my deck called “The Flower Academe”. 

-Von