We recently talked about mindfulness in our previous blog post and how it can be encouraged into our lives in small ways. One of our favourite ways of being mindful (not surprisingly) is through creativity. Mindfulness will for some people be something they have done for a while without realising it. For others, it will feel more challenging. One thing about creativity is that it has been found to naturally relax and calm your mind.
Creativity can mean different things for different people. For some, they have a need to bake, or a need to dance, or a need to sketch, and maybe for reasons they may not be aware of. They only know that when they do, it lifts them and improves their mood.
When we discovered Folk Art painting, we saw its potential to help decorate our homes, but what we soon realised was that it was our go to when we were experiencing stress. In those times, it gave us space to deal with big life decisions, death of loved ones and more recently lockdowns and the isolations.
Painting for us is a form of mindfulness, a way to switch off and slow down, and through our Masterclasses we wanted to make it accessible for everyone to tap into this form of mindful creativity. The problem was that despite knowing Folk Art's potential for mindfulness, for many people, a blank page and a paintbrush can be intimidating. Beginner painters have expectations, maybe a fear of doing it wrong or not being 'good' enough within a self imposed time scale.
Just one of the pages from our Folk Art Painting Masterclass for Beginner Painters.
That's why we created a painting journal to break down these barriers, a workbook to accompany the in-depth video tutorials. These workbook contains not just patterns to trace but templates for you to fill in and paint over with your brushstrokes. Each page of the in the Beginner's Masterclass Workbook corresponds to a video tutorial and contains not only full colour examples, but space for you to practice, as well as outlines that act as guides to show you where you need to place each brushstroke.
No mindful painting practice would be complete without a few doodles. Practice your brushstrokes in the workbook and then doodle 'til your heart's content.
We wanted to show everyone that painting should not be something to be scared of, but something that is achievable and enjoyable. We worked hard to create a Masterclass that anyone can access to tap into the mindfulness of practicing brushstrokes and painting beautiful designs.
The repetitive nature of brushstroke practice becomes a mindful practice in itself as we slow our movements and focus on developing the skills we are learning.
We feel we have created something special, something that will become a keepsake and journal of your painting and mindful journey. There is also no rush to learn, once you have access to the videos, you will have access for life so there is no pressure. We hope that all these elements help break down those barriers to painting so that the only leap of faith you need to make is to begin.
Have you used painting as a form of mindfulness? How has Folk Art helped you? We'd love to hear your stories of how painting has helped you achieve mindfulness.
Until next time x