This week I ran a watercolour workshop for staff and students at a university in central London. The workshop was to help people enjoy a creative experience in Stress Awareness Month (Regents University London, 2024). The idea of the watercolour workshop was to learn to paint a tree. Once participants had painted their tree, they were asked to apply a word that was valuable to them, to their picture. The pictures were then brought together to make a ‘Forest of Thoughts’. My tree is shown below (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Watercolour Tree with Meaningful Word
At the start of the workshop, I asked participants to say why they had come to the workshop. Some said it was to relax and take a break. Others said they wanted to learn how to paint in watercolour. Others wanted to improve their watercolour art skills.
After an introduction to the theme of trees the group looked at different types of tree, and each participant chose a tree to paint. Each participant painted their tree with some guidance and encouragement from others in the group. Some participants had to go back to their offices and could not stay for the whole workshop. This reflected how busy life can be and how work can take out time from such activities.
Once all participants had completed their trees and added them to the Forest of Thoughts, the workshop came to an end. I cleared up the art materials with the help of a couple of other participants.
Positive feedback was given by all the participants. Some examples are below:
- “…What a beautiful forest! With very inspiring words. Thank you so much for sharing your enthusiasm, Peter, and gently guiding us into the forest. Looking forward to the next workshop…”
- “Thank you for facilitating this Peter, despite my pained expressions of concentration I had a really good time! Should you do another one, I’ll be there 🙂”
- “…it was great fun. I wish I could have stayed for longer 🙁 Thank you Peter for running it…”
- “Thank you again for the enjoyable workshop.”
- “Thanks very much for this uplifting workshop.”
- “Thanks Peter- it was a lovely session.”
- “Thank you so much Peter. It was so good and sooo relaxing! Absolutely loved it!”
I often reflect on why people enjoy such activities so much. One reason is because when people tap into their ‘creative selves’ it gives a sense of joy and meaning, and giving space for such activities is valuable (Cameron, 1993). It may be hard to describe why it is such a joyful and valuable thing. However, it is the experience of most participants who indulge in such activities.
Dr Peter Sharp 10th April 2024
References
Cameron, J. (2003) The Artist’s Way, A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self, Pan MacMillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London, N1 9RR.
Regents University London (2024) Linked In Post dated 9th April 2024 {accessed on https://www.linkedin.com/school/regentsuniversitylondon/mycompany/verification/ on 10th April 2024}
Knowledge Learning and Personal Development 