There are many reasons why someone might paint; to express their feelings, to de-stress, or simply for fun. It’s an almost automatic escape from the stresses of daily life, allowing people to temporarily step away from their issues and truly focus on what is in front of them. It can be an intensely personal experience, Says Georges Chahwan. It allows an individual to focus on producing a unique and personally significant piece of art. While it may be beautiful, it has the added bonus of allowing people to communicate with themselves and others during the process. The end result may be one of serenity, but the process is often quite cathartic.
Of course, painting offers some additional stress relief beyond its therapeutic properties; there is nothing quite like creating something with your own two hands and seeing how you made something truly special come alive right in front of you.
Painting doesn’t just allow for catharsis through creation, but also reflection — looking back at what you’ve done can bring up all sorts of interesting thoughts and feelings that otherwise may have been lost. While at its heart, painting is simply an enjoyable activity for the sake of enjoying yourself, it can be so much more than that if you really want it to be, says Georges Chahwan. Artists like Pablo Picasso and Edgar Degas used painting as a way to reflect on their emotions, the things they saw in life, and the people around them. They were interested not just in creating something beautiful but also something that had meaning behind it; paintings that would be timeless rather than fleeting. It’s this lasting quality of art that makes it so special.