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Adult art classes - flowers- by Arty Amber

Why Adults Stop Being Creative and How to Reverse it

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Take yourself back to the last time you were creative. Perhaps this was yesterday or perhaps it was when you were a child or a teenager. Did you stop being creative after that? Why did you stop being creative? Can you remember? Was there a negative comment or incident that made you stop? Negative comments or incidents have the power to stop our creativity in it’s tracks causing us to doubt ourselves and to question “am I any good?”. These negative thoughts can stop us picking up a paint brush ever again.

Iv seen many clients over the years who say to me “I’m no good at art, my teacher threw my work in the bin saying that I can’t submit it in my GCSE portfolio because it’s not good enough”. Some clients have said to me “my child was always drawing and painting when they were younger, and suddenly they stopped at age 8 because they thought they were no good”.

Creativity comes to us so naturally when we are children, it’s in our very nature to be beautifully expressive without hesitation or self doubt, but the world around us tends to make us let go of that amazing quality at some point in our lives, leaving us to search for it, hoping to embrace it like children once more.

The good news is that being creative is as easy as learning the alphabet. Scientists have now discovered a concept called ‘brain plasticity’, which means that our brains are constantly changing, adapting and connecting new cells, rather than being mechanical and rigid as once thought. This means we can teach our brains any new skill or fact. This is great news for adults who would like to be more creative or learn something new, but are worried that they aren’t skilled enough. We can now think of ourselves as grown children – adaptable, changeable and in a constant state of learning, able to learn a new skill whenever we wish to do so. Brain plasticity also means that the concept of ‘natural talent’ is dated. Rather we should consider talent as something that has been learnt. Therefore you can now set aside those worried thoughts, apprehensions and anxieties, pick up that paint brush and have the courage to be creative or book yourself into an art class. You, too, can be creative simply by starting.

Here’s a few tips and tricks for embarking on your new creative journey…

# 1 What you will need

You don’t need much to get started – a pencil, a set of brushes, a pack of watercolour paints, acrylic paints or gouache paints (I recommend gouache to get started) and some decent paper or a sketch book of 180gsm.

# 2 Let go of control

Schedule 30 mins once or twice a week for creativity. This is a lovely exercise that I like to do before bed to shake off the day’s stresses. Pop some head phones in and listen to your favourite podcast/music/radio show. Have your chosen paints, water, paper and brushes to hand and simply start doodling on the page. Your mind should be on the noise in your ears rather than focussed on the page. This isn’t an exercise in developing skill, this is just time for you to let go of control and to feel comfortable doing so, allowing the paints to flow on the page wherever they may take you. Easier said than done I know! Stick with it for 4 or 5 sessions and you will start to learn that letting go of control is half the battle to winning back your creativity.

# 3 Learn to love your creative self

There are a lot of ways you can access your creativity like following a youtube video, visiting a gallery or joining an art class, but here are a few of my favourite creative activities that will develop your love of creativity:

  • Make an origami crane (or any origami you like) and then draw it in pencil. Don’t forget the shadow!
  • Make a collage of beautiful patterns and bright colours from old magazines or books. Try cutting a mixture of shapes such as circles, ovals, squares and organic shapes to aid you in fitting them altogether. Give yourself the aim of filling an A5 sheet.
  • Draw or paint the cover of your favourite book.
  • Fold in half an A4 sheet of thick paper. Cut a simple plant/flower and stick it to one half, make a drawing and then paint it on the other half. The simpler the better. Spend no more than 30 mins doing this. Listen to your favourite music or podcast whilst you do it to help you loosen your control.
  • Make a city skyline using old fabric or paper cut outs. Is it night or day? Are there shadows? Is there a sunset? Is there a river?
  • Draw a butterfly and paint it using gouache paint or coloured pencils. Take care to think about the design you would like to give her wings.
  • Collect a few simple leaves (dried or fresh) and arrange them on a piece of paper. On another piece of paper draw what you can see. If this seems too daunting then draw around the leaves instead.
  • Cut and paste a mosaic out of beautiful paper.
  • Create a painting or drawing of a patterned bathroom/kitchen tile.
  • Cut open a piece of fruit and take a close up photo of it. Draw or paint the photograph.
  • Make a paint splat on paper and turn it into a monster/animal/teddy using felt pens/paints.
  • Draw a letter of the alphabet and decorate it.

Keep in mind that your brain is being shaped by these activities, so give your self time to adapt and learn. It won’t happen overnight, but you didn’t learn the alphabet overnight either! Try doing a task a week together with the 30 minute creative task in tip #1 for 3 months. Then compare your art works from when you first started to your most recent work and notice the difference. To help you on your journey join me at one of my popular art classes held monthly in Croxley Green.

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How to Bring Art into the Home for Young Children

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Young children flourish in a creative environment where they can bathe in inspiration and their imaginations can run wild. Children are naturally creative, they cant help it – it’s in their very nature! They love to play, draw, paint and explore all the creative possibilities available. Creating conditions where the child can flourish without competition, without pressure and without assessment or exams should be seen as vital to the development of their creative-thinking, problem-solving, fine motor skills, handwriting, self-expression and observational skills. Skills that will journey with them through to adulthood.

But how do we make sure that our children have plenty of creative possibilities to explore? How can we build a creative environment to support their natural development? Let’s starts in the home, the child’s first foundations of education…

Tip #1 Where to start

Young children will naturally want to try a range of mediums. This is a great time to expose them to mediums because as they get older they will be less willing to do so and become more aware of the challenges they may encounter. Start by buying a few brilliantly creative basics…

Soft Berol oil pastels and large pieces of A2 paper are a great starting point, or you could buy blank wall paper and tear off large sheets. Place the paper on the floor rather than on a table as your little one can crawl over the paper whilst making marks, which is less restrictive. Mark making is a precursor for handwriting, so the more they do the better it is for them to develop those fine motor skills!

An easel or a blackboard is also a great tool and it’s much easier for young children to stand and draw in an upright position. If you decide to get a blackboard then you will need some chalk pastels. If you’d rather not clean the mess then place a large sheet of paper under the easel to catch all the dust!

And finally, you’ll need some pencils. I recommend Faber-Castelle watercolour pencils as you can use them both wet and dry, which exposes your little artist to yet another medium. Try using them dry first and then adding water with a wet paintbrush and watch the colours turn to paint – your little one will look on in wonder!

Tip #2 What’s next?

Once you have tried the above and got your creative groove going on, then the next medium I introduce is watercolour paints. You can find these in handy tins so there isn’t a lot of mess. To avoid the colours mixing together and creating that dreaded brown colour, its best to buy 2 tins and then rearrange the colours so that one tin has cold colours (blues, purples and greens) and the other tin has warm colours (yellows, oranges and reds). Give your little one 1 of the tins to use and then swap them over half way through the painting. Limiting the pallet in this way is helpful so that your little one doesn’t get overwhelmed with options. It also allows them the space to experience 2 or 3 colours at a time.

Tip #3 Painting top tip

I love to use a method with young children of 3 years old or more called ‘wet on wet’ painting. It produces the most beautiful paintings with ease and it is THE BEST way to give your child that creative flair. The paints aren’t easily controlled and so it will also introduce your little artist to the concept of mistakes, which are often seen as failures, but really they are opportunities to make something beautiful. Mistakes have the power to teach us to accept ourselves and the world around us. For the wet on wet method you will need:

1. A3 or larger thick paper (minimum 220gsm) 

2. A bath/large sink/plastic tub with a small amount of water in it (enough to lay your paper flat in to soak)

3. Watercolour paints (I recommend Stockmar paints for this, the primary colours are plenty. The colours are vibrant and your little one will love them) 

4. 3 jars or containers for diluting the Stockmar paints (use a small brush to stir a small amount of paint in a splash of water)

5. A tray or cloth to keep the jars of paints on to catch spillages

6. A large flat brush size 6 or above

7. A waterproof surface such as a plastic sheet, plastic table cloth, large plastic bag (larger than your paper), or a waterproof art board.

The first step is to soak your paper in the water for 15 mins. Take it out and put it on the plastic surface. Give your little one the paint brush and paint jars and patiently encourage them to gently move the paint around the surface. The water will naturally move the paint around the paper and create new colours. They will finish 1 artwork quite quickly so have plenty of paper ready and pre-soaked. Once your mini Picasso has a handle on this painting method try telling them a short story and then ask them to paint something they heard in the story such as a character or an object. They wont be able to paint any real form as the water will blur the edges and the colours will mix together, but that’s the idea – you are teaching them something far more special than how to colour inside the lines!

Tip #4 Should I guide my child in art?

It can be so tempting to join in the creative fun. Watching our little ones drawing or painting fills us with the need to jump in and show them how to draw shapes or letters, guiding them and bringing their awareness to the technical aspects of what they are doing. My best advise is to avoid this, even if you are itching to give them advise! Go into another room or distract yourself whilst your little one experiences the glories of painting of drawing. Interfering stops the creative process in its tracks and brings awareness to mistakes, how they could make their painting look better or how it ‘should’ look. The best creative environment for a child to flourish is one where they are left to freely explore the mediums and colours. This will later translate into a love of art, a love of drawing and painting. Then when the time is right they can be introduced to the technical aspects of art by a professional who understands how to teach this to children.

Tip #5 Going beyond the home

Once you have your basic creative kit built you can venture outside and start collecting things you find together on your walks such as moss, twigs, acorns, conkers, feathers and pebbles. Your little one will love hunting for these objects and sitting with you to explore the possibilities of what you could do to turn these seemingly simple things into something fun. Grab a glue gun and some acrylic paint pens and make a moss garden with twig people or a twig barn for a pebble animal or a twig raft on river of feathers. See where your imaginations take you. You don’t have to keep everything you make – return it to the garden or the woods and watch nature reclaim your masterpiece.

Bringing art into the home early on is a wonderful gift to give your child as they will take what they are taught into adulthood. We’re always here to help you achieve these goals and once your little one turns 4.5 they will be ready for our art clubs and all that we offer for their art education!

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6 Top Reasons Why Art is Beneficial for Children

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“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Most children love art and creativity, it just comes naturally to them. They love bright colours, the feel of the materials in their hands and the marks that appear on the paper. It’s full of wonder to them. A child doesn’t need to have any drawing or colouring skills at all, they just need to be themselves – children. In comparison to adults, children tend not to harbour inhibitions, self-doubt or creative blocks, they just naturally create. Therefore, to educate children using art and creativity is the best teaching method I know of, it works with their natural interests and capabilities. But what are the actual benefits to the child? Can it really help them developmentally? Yes! Thousand times, yes! Let’s have a look at what the benefits are:


Benefit # 1
Art creates problem-solvers

According to the International Child Art Foundation:

“Research indicates that a child who is exposed to the arts acquires a special ability to think creatively, be original, discover, innovate, and create intellectual property—key attributes for individual success and social prosperity in the twenty-first century.”

When we expose children to a wide variety of art materials, surfaces and techniques, we are giving them the freedom of choice. To make decisions, to like or dislike their own work, to experiment, to take risks and to see things in different ways. This is vital if children are to become creative thinkers and problem-solvers in adulthood. To think outside the box with art directly supports them to think outside the box with minor and major problems.

Have you ever seen the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on education? He talks about the importance of right-brain thinking (the creative side of our brains), and how art throughout education can encourage creative thinkers. The world may then benefit from their creative problem-solving skills. Take a look here

Benefit # 2
Art develops neural connections

Art is an activity that heightens our brain activity and encourages all the senses. Sight and touch are apparent, but depending on the activity, it can also promote sound, smell and taste. Due to this, it develops neural connections that produce a whole range of benefits from excellent motor skills to improved emotional balance. It can even help improve memory and learning!

Benefit # 3
Art encourages handwriting

Art is a precursor to handwriting. It is essential to allow toddlers the freedom to scribble and create marks as this will help them to control the pencil/crayon. Once they have gained control of the tool, they will start to control their scribbling. This then leads to them creating shapes such as circles and lines – the very nature of the English alphabet.

Benefit # 4
Art helps children understand themselves

After a day at school absorbing hours of information (mostly left brain), its important for children to have the opportunity to process what they’ve learnt – to use their creative brain (their right brain) and to reflect on their day. Art is a beautiful tool for achieving this, giving them the freedom to choose colours, lines, materials, mark-making and surfaces. It provides a well-earned opportunity to relax, unwind and express themselves. Through art, we can teach our children to accept themselves and to love themselves.

Benefit # 5
Art teaches acceptance

Some children go through heartbreak when they make a mistake. Some erase mistakes over and over. Sometimes I may even get a student who is just too scared to even make a mark with a pencil. These are all signs of children who are afraid of failure. Art is a fantastic tool for teaching acceptance of mistakes, especially through techniques such as wet-on-wet painting; where the paint cant be controlled, and errors are inevitable. Large drawing tools such as oil pastels and chalk pastels are also great for this. Try turning the lights off or asking your child to close their eyes and make marks on the paper. Once you turn the lights on, you can ask them to create a story from their drawing to heighten their imagination. Encourage your child to make mistakes and show them when you’ve made a mistake as they will learn from your reaction.

Mistakes are so often seen as failures, but really they are opportunities to make something beautiful. Mistakes have the power to teach us to accept ourselves and the world around us.

Benefit # 6
Art teaches slow gratification

Slow gratification is another goodie. In a press release from the American Psychological Association it states:

“…the ability to delay gratification in early childhood has been associated with a range of positive outcomes in adolescence and beyond. These include greater academic competence and higher SAT scores, healthier weight, effective coping with stress and frustration, social responsibility and positive relations with peers”.

Slow gratification teaches self-control which is why it goes hand in hand with art. For example, creating a mandala encourages the use of focus, sustainability and patience, all of which are controlled and regulated, eventually leading to the gratification of the finished artwork. Crochet and knitting are also excellent for control.

I could easily go on, but these are my top six reasons to encourage art and creativity in your home. Its easy and it doesn’t have to be messy! I like to use large sheets of paper no smaller than A2 so my little one can sit on it and draw all around herself. You can even head to your hardware store to grab a roll of blank wallpaper. A black board is also a great surface and it benefits the toddler to stand and draw in an upright position as they can control the tool more easily this way. Oil pastels and pencils are my favourite tools to give my toddler when I don’t fancy doing much cleaning. I reserve the black board and chalk pastels for when I don’t mind doing a spot of cleaning afterwards. When it comes to painting, the best way I have found is to put my daughter in the bath tub with her paints and brushes (I recommend turning away if you’d rather not see the mess that is going to occur!). Once your little one is done turn the taps on and give her/him a bath as well as rinse off the paint…easy!

If you would like to give your little one a real art education then join me and my lovely team at art club. You can learn more here