Or Why You Should Learn to Paint At Any Age
Painting and art are some of the creative areas of life that every child (and adult) should try and explore. The great thing about art is that the pursuit of art comes with a lot of wonderful fringe benefits that you may not even realize.
Some of the benefits of art include increased creativity, better hand-to-eye coordination, clearer self-expression, increased decision-making skills, improved visual-spatial skills, the teaching of perseverance, it helps increase your focus, you learn to see the world differently, it helps to build self-confidence and it is just plain fun.
Here are our 10 Top Reasons Why You Should Encourage Your Children in Art, and why you should also learn to paint :
Creativity
Art and to process of art is all about learning to be creative. It allows each of us to express ourselves in a way that science or math does not allow us to. It is through our learning of art that helps each of us to be able to think more creatively and to also learn how to creatively solve problems.
It was Pablo Picasso that so very wisely told us:
“Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”
Pablo Picasso
Hand-to-eye Coordination
Do your children have a hard time catching a ball or have handwriting that is extremely messy? Drawing, painting, and art, in general, help children to be able to develop a steady hand. This in turn can help them to learn how to properly handle and hold a pen or pencil.
The Philly Art Center said this about how art helps children:
“One of the most important skills that are developed through art is fine motor development. During art lessons, your child’s small muscles in the fingers, hands, and wrists are exercised and strengthened, helping to make learning to write easier.”
philly art Center
Self Expression
We are all unique. Each child is also unique. And art is a way for all children, even those of us who are older and all grown up, to express ourselves. Our art should be an extension of who we are.
This is one of the great things about art and also studying artists that have gone before us. We can see so much of their personality and who they are in their art.
Kurt Vonnegut reminds us all why we should have some form of art in our lives:
“To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. So do it.”
Kurt Vonnegut
Decision-making Skills
Painting and creative expression allow children to develop their decision-making skills. In painting, a child needs to plan ahead of time and decide what they are going to paint and why. They then need to decide and choose what colors they will use and why they will use them. All of these kinds of activities help children to improve their decision-making skills.
When a child sits down with paper and paints in hand, they are using their decision-making skills to decide what they will paint and why. Alfie Kohn who wrote the book Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason says why this kind of decision-making is so important to every child’s development:
“The way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not by following directions.”
Alfie Kohn
Visual Learning
Art is all about the visual aspects which also includes visual learning This is why drawing, painting, and sculpting in an art class or even as an at-home activity, will help children to fully develop their visual-spatial skills.
Visual-spatial skills are important for children to learn as having these skills can affect many aspects of their lives:
“People with Visual/Spatial intelligence are very aware of their surroundings and are good at remembering images. They have a keen sense of direction and often enjoy maps. They have a sharp sense of space, distance, and measurement.”
personality max
Some people have natural abilities when it comes to their visual-spatial skills. Those people who have good visual-spatial skills. are usually good at things such as:
- They notice colors, shapes, and forms around them.
- Can visualize just about anything
- Very good at visual puzzles
- They enjoy things as geometry
- They love to draw and paint
- They enjoy photography
- Appreciate books with pictures and tend to see pictures more than words.
- Usually very good with directions
- Remembers places vividly and are able to recall them.
- Good at all kinds of artistic composition and expression.
If you or your child does not naturally have these abilities, art can help you to develop or at least improve their visual-spatial skills.
Perseverance
Learning any kind of art can be a challenge. It takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work. To be involved in any kind of art form means that you need to practice and work at it consistently.
This is why art, teaches a child not to quit but to keep ongoing. It is a lesson they can take with them throughout their lives and they can realize that when they come across something that is hard or difficult that they can make it through those tough times and persevere.
I really love this quote by the great artists Van Gogh on painting even when you think you can not paint:
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Vincent Van Gogh
Helps Your Focus
Painting helps your focus. When you paint you need to look at all the detials of the painting. This allows you to focus on the painting and to concentrate on it.
Many times when I am painting I put my painting where I can view it from a distance. I will concentrate on the painting, by looking at it and thinking about the details of it. All of this is a form of focus and concentration.
As Gaye Adams said about painting:
“The daily small painting, a small resource and time commitment, is an exercise in absolute focus for that time period. It’s like a meditation, really.”
Gaye Adams
See the World Differently
When you start to paint the one thing it does it opens up the world in another way. This also happens to children when they paint. Maybe they no longer just see the sun, but they see the sun, their home or their family in a new way.
Art helps your power of observation. Artists start to observe the world in the way they want to paint it. They no longer just see a pink flower, but they see the pink flower as how they want to paint it.
Cicero said this about art and the power of observation:
“Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature .”
cicero
Builds Self Confidence
True art is subjective. As they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That is why art is such a great self-confidence booster for children.
Art also helps with self-confidence as it is a way for children to safely communicate their emotions, frustrations, and feelings. They are able to communicate and express themselves through the use of colors and objects. They do not need to use any words.
When a child feels they have done a great job on the painting and they are proud of it, it also helps them to do other things well as we are reminded in this quote:
“Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well too.”
Healthyplace.com
It Is Fun!
Art at any age is a fun thing to do. It is a form of self-expression, so you can make your art whatever you want it to be. Rules can be broken. New techniques tried and tested. New forms of expression learned.
As Ai WeiWei reminds us all that life is filled with art when he said:
“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.”
Ai Weiwei
Art is a great activity for children and also an amazing thing for anyone to start doing at any age. Not only is it a fun thing to do, but it also has a lot of added benefits for your overall health and well-being
Related Questions
What Are Some Traits On Artist Should Acquire?
Some of the traits that any artist should try to acquire are traits such as having inspiration, learning the power of observation, having the ability to develop a good memory, and having an imagination. It is also good to develop the art of persistence and patience along with self – discipline. And finally, if an artist can see life as a great adventure it will help them not only in life but in their artwork and make their artwork fun.
To find out more about the traits that every artist should acquire you can read our blog 9 Traits That Are Important for Any Artist to Acquire by clicking here.
Why Start Oil Painting?
There are many reasons why you should consider oil painting over other paint mediums. The 5 top reasons to use oil paints are: 1) the vibrancy of the colors you can obtain from oils, 2) they mix well with other paints and other mediums, 3) oil paints have amazing color blending properties 4) the slow drying process of oil paints gives added control and 5) oil painting has been done for centuries.
To find out more about starting to oil paint you can read our blog on Why Start Oil Painting? The Top 5 Reasons Why by clicking here.
