September 8th, 2021
David Peachment
The Benefits of Painting
Art is so pervasive throughout our society. Music, graphic design, sculptures, and so much more are in every aspect of our lives. Each has its own special place, and each has its positives and negatives. But one portion of art can rise ahead of the others in some key areas: painting. Putting a brush to canvas has so many benefits and far too many to mention here. But I want to highlight a couple of important benefits that I and people I know personally have experienced through painting. So without further ado, let’s get into some of the awesome positives to painting that you or your kids can experience!
Creativity
The first fantastic benefit to painting is the creativity that it conjures up. In order to paint images off of memory or even of an object in front of you, it involves selecting the right paint you feel best reflects the work, the sizes of brushes, the strokes you want to do, the lighting, how realistic vs abstract you want to be, and so much more! The act of painting causes you to consider how you feel the work would look the best and allows you to express yourself genuinely. You choose how the painting gets created. You choose what it will look like. You choose what emotions looking at the painting bring up inside the viewers. The freedom to decide is entirely up to you, and as such, lets you stretch that creativity muscle immensely. Taking the time to analyze how you want to go about your painting will develop creative skills that will spill over into other activities, art or not.
Relaxation
Another great pro for painting is the relaxation you get from it. After a stressful day, it is super therapeutic to sit down at a canvas and let my mind wander, and my muscles loosen as I glide a brush across the blank page in front of me. I can let out any frustrations in the painting and express myself fully onto a canvas. Creating something from scratch produces wonderful feelings of positivity and accomplishment that aren’t under a deadline or expectations. Additionally, studies have shown that taking the time to relax can actually sharpen your mind for regular work and improve your concentration, which I will talk about in the next section. Even something as simple as a paint-by-numbers is very relaxing and refreshes my mind for the next day. Give it a try, and you might find it incredibly relaxing too. If you like, you can even put on some music or a podcast to listen to something while you paint.
Improves Concentration
The final benefit I want to talk about is the improvement in concentration. Spending time to concentrate on the details of the painting or the act of painting itself has been shown to improve concentration in other areas of your life. A study done in 2008 involved medical students attending eight sessions that taught fine art concepts and techniques. After the sessions, it was found that the students significantly improved their concentration on other unrelated tasks such as medical examinations. Taking the time to really break apart your art and focus on the brush strokes can drastically help you improve your mental acuity in all areas of your life. While there are benefits to relaxing with painting, focusing yourself on it also has its positives as well.
Ultimately, painting and creating art have too many positives to mention in a short blog article. But I hope that just showing a few of my favourite benefits that I’ve experienced while painting can shed some light on how great it can be for anyone. From improving your creativity and concentration skills, to simply allowing yourself to relax after a long day, painting has the capacity to make your life better overall. I hope you give it a try and pick up a brush and canvas. And if you’re a little nervous about starting a new skill such as this, look up some tutorial videos on Youtube or attend a local paint night event. They get held pretty regularly in almost every city and even online! Give it a try, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Until next time,
David Peachment
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