Painting Night Perspectives from Paint Night Social Event
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.” Henry Ward Beecher
I recently organized five friends to join me at a Paint Night Social event that brought in many “aha” moments for me. This was a true stepping out for me because my mother had painted in many different mediums and I always felt very inferior to attempt various painting projects. I had also attended a painting class a few years ago in order to learn some techniques, only to have the instructor literally take the paint brush out of my hand and “fix” my painting for me.
So armed with these past fears, I felt that it was time to address them, but in a fun way. There were a total of fifty people at this two hour event. It involved wine, painting, laughter, giggles and some key insights for me. We all had the same:
- Template picture to paint from
- Instructor and instructions
- Three paint brushes which the instructor named ‘Big Daddy’, ‘Sexy Mamma’, and ‘Tiny Baby’ .
- Three different paint colours to utilize.
So even though we all had the same instructions, tools, and template, the results ended up creating fifty very different and unique pieces of art. Some people had painted more dragonflies into the scene while one person decided not to paint any dragonflies at all and instead did a tree. How freeing it was to see this. I had tried to have my picture be as close to the template as possible and I realized just how confining it was to do this. I also realized that in trying to ‘fix’ certain parts of my painting by going over it again, I actually ended up creating more of a mess. I had one friend tell me how much she liked one part of my painting that in my mind I had highly criticized.
This really highlighted the power of perception and perspective for me. What one person sees is totally different to what another sees due to the lens that they are utilizing to look through. It is not right or wrong, it is just different. No wonder there are so many differences of opinions. If we had all painted exactly the same as the instructor’s piece, how boring that would have been. Creativity is something that is meant to flow from our soul. This was truly a refreshing activity for me to participate in and I know that I would love to go to a few more nights like these. Here is to letting your creativity flow with ease and grace. Anyone else want to join me?