Don’t think yourself an artist?
We’re going to stop you right there – because you’re wrong. Creating art taps into the primal need for expression and it’s not confined to what ends up on the canvas.
When you paint with friends, you unlock a world of color that goes beyond the palette. You engage in unspoken dialogues and reconnect; you laugh and cry and fail and succeed together; and you’re left with the glow of friendship that remains long after the paint is dry.
Let’s explore why painting with friends is simply the best.
Beyond the Art Gallery: Connecting With Your Inner Child
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Art galleries.
They’re seen as hallowed halls. Places of quiet contemplation. Don’t run, don’t take photos, don’t jeer and sneer.
The distance between the observer and the observed is measured in more than feet; it’s measured in education and refinement. Art galleries are often a place to feel as though you’re separate from the art world.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Step beyond the gallery, take a paintbrush in hand (alongside your painting buddies), and you’ll reconnect with something simpler, organic, and joyous:
Your inner child.
It’s the thrill of creating without constraint. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s expression. Getting together with your besties to explore art on your own terms – warts, and all – rekindles your sense of wonder and helps you to let go of inhibitions, embracing the imperfections that make a work uniquely yours.
What Makes Painting With Friends Great
Paint parties combine a lot of winning elements: Companionship, creativity, and a dash of casual, hands-on therapy. It’s not only about the pictures and the artistic expression, it’s about the process and the togetherness.
Painting is, for one thing, inclusive. Everybody can participate regardless of skill level: It doesn’t matter whether you’re creating elaborate landscapes or abstract expressions.
The focus is more on the act of creation than any one outcome.
Painting is also a highly sensory experience. The senses of touch and sight are paramount, and the aroma of fresh paint can be surprisingly moving.
Moreover, painting with your painting buddies is flexible. It can be structured.
It can be free-form. You can attend organized, directed art classes or free-for-all paint parties. The versatility and inherently open-ended nature of painting make it easy to tailor it to whatever you want it to be.
Finding That “Special” Connection Again
All of us feel disconnected at times.
Text and tweets and emojis and voice messages don’t exactly help.
But painting is a good spot of fun with friends that offers all of you the chance to reconnect and find that “special” connection you once shared. The art helps you to communicate without words and shared glances, encouraging nods, and fits of laughter at unexpected catastrophes are unspoken dialogues that deepen friendships for good.
There’s something deeply human about sharing in collective failures and successes. Both are inevitable when painting together. Yet, in the company of friends, your failures transform into shared laughter and great moments to learn from.
When your mountains look like molehills and your portrait’s eyes are lopsided, you’ll come to realize you’re out of your comfort zone, confronted with the reality that what’s inside your head isn’t what you can see on the canvas in front of you.
And there are valuable life lessons to be taken from that.
Persevere, and success is inevitable. Your successes compound into collective triumphs when someone in the group nails a tricky shading technique or finally manages to capture the light.
Art as Hands-on Therapy
Art activities are surprisingly therapeutic.
They’re a chance to slow down and take in your surroundings, focusing on the intricate details of a subject in ways that most of us don’t for the rest of the waking day.
The tactile nature of handling brushes and mixing paints is a grounding experience, and focusing on a canvas and subject can help you focus. Anxieties fade into the background. Your brush becomes a tool of self-expression and self-actualization.
In the presence of friends, it’s a form of hands-on therapy that takes on entirely new dimensions.
And art can hold up a mirror, helping you to touch your unspoken thoughts and to see your inner world more clearly. It’s a gentle way of unpacking life’s many complexities.
Getting Your Feet Wet: Finding Drop-in Open Paint Sessions
If you know where to look, you can find in-house art classes near you that don’t have a waiting list. The Artist’s Collective in Corona, California, for instance, offers daily drop-in sessions that are open to everybody who cares to attend – and the price of admission amounts to the cost of the materials you use.
If private paint parties are more your thing, consider renting a local club for an evening. Many art centers offer classes for kids at convenient hours, as well as private art classes that teach fundamental techniques you need to master the brush.
Building Confidence
Picking up the brush, whether it’s in the company of friends or as a newcomer to a drop-in art class, helps you build confidence.
You learn to trust your gut and respect your instincts as you learn about color and form. In time, you will embrace the traits that define you as an artist and develop a passion for asserting yourself on the canvas.
Yet such empowerment isn’t left behind in the classroom.
As you grow and learn and pick yourself up after failure, you will find that the same confidence spills over and seeps into all aspects of your life. The courage to experiment comes from taking bold risks and knowing you will fail.
And then doing it again anyway.
Paint Memories That Last
The benefits of painting with friends are as vibrant as the artwork you create together. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are:
Everybody is an artist. The canvas of life is too beautiful not to want to paint all over it.
Comfortably at home at the Shops at Dos Lagos, the Artist’s Collective brings people together in a collective celebration of the things that make us human. We host professional adult and kid classes weekly and offer daily drop-in sessions that are perfect for getting your brush wet. Learn more about our paint parties by clicking here.