It’s a lockdown, it’s cold, and it has even been snowing, something unusual for London. It does not look like anything is going to change soon. Well, it’s true, but let’s look at the positive side.
– We have more time to stay at home and be with our family,
– to catch up with friends living overseas at Zoom/Skype/Teams.
– or to watch NETFLIX.
– We even have more time to learn something new or to get to those DIY projects at home.
Talking about learning something new, let me tell you a few scientific facts about happiness, creativity and paint and sip at-home experiences.
What makes people happy?
So, the scientists of Positive Psychology have been researching for years what makes people happy. In a study from 2009 “Achieving sustainable new happiness: prospects, practices, and prescriptions”, Kennon M. Sheldon and Sonja Lyubomirsky determined three primary factors influencing the chronicle happiness level:
– Life circumstances -10%
– Set point – 50%
– Intentional activities – 40%
What they found is that the set point is generally determined and essentially constant, and it has a 50% influence on the overall chronic happiness level.
The life circumstances take 10% and they refer to demographic variables such as age, marital status, employment, religion and so on. Those are the factors that mainly state stable influences and they are part of our background.
In other words, the set point and the life circumstances are something we barely can change.
Then there are intentional activities, which contribute to our happiness with 40%.
The intentional activity is a cognitive decision we take to do something regularly like exercises, practising meditation, eating healthy and so on.
The intentional activities have the potential to create sustainable positive change because of their dynamic and varying nature, and because of their capacity to produce a steady positive and rich experience.
Intentional activities are the only thing we can control, which means that 40% of our happiness and wellbeing is in our hands and we can make a difference in our life as soon as we decide to do so.
“Your happiness can be a gift to others”
In his article “Your happiness can be a gift to others” Professor Neil Frude from The University of South Wales wrote, “Doing whatever you can to make yourself happy can be a powerful act of kindness towards the people around you, your family and friends and, in your work context, your colleagues, patients, pupils or customers”.
According to many pieces of research, there are 5 factors that easily can increase the level of our happiness and make a massive impact on our wellbeing. They are:
- To be active
- To give and to volunteer
- To keep learning
- To take notice and live in the present, and
- To connect with others.
As you may see, there are a correlation between those two, completely different articles. In both, it states that by doing and learning something new we can increase your happiness, wellbeing, and longevity. Even more so, our happiness directly affects and benefits the people we love and care about.
You probably heard this before that painting will increase your creativity, but did you know that the creative process of painting will contribute to our mental health, happiness, and personal satisfaction?
Ok, let me tell you how this is happening.
There are a few steps to plan your sip and paint at home experience. I call these steps mini “happy moments” because in each planning level you deal with different, exciting things.
Here there are:
1. Taking the decision that you’d like to try to paint with acrylic.
Just by deciding to do something new you will make yourself feel happier. Not only that, but during the time you browse on the internet to choose a picture you want to paint, you will extend this feeling for longer. Choosing a painting or event to attend is a fun process. You may want to pick something you like to paint, but also want to hang on the wall at home.
2. Choosing the type of experience.
Currently, there are no live events available due to Pandemic, however, there are plenty of options for virtual painting parties or ready to paint art kits. Both options are wonderful, but if you are wondering what the difference is, let me explain:
The virtual painting party is an interactive online event where you and other painters’ enthusiasts will be together in a virtual room, painting, sipping, and mingling. This option is fantastic if you like to spend some time with other people and to socialise from the comfort of your home.
The second option is wonderful if you like to create some “Me” time or if you like to spend some quality time with someone else (family, friends, partners, etc). For this experience, you can choose from different painting art kits. Once your art kit arrives, you are ready to start painting.
But isn’t that difficult to paint at home without instructions?
I am glad you asked.
It’s not difficult at all. You just need to select the right painting kit. Our painting art kits, for example, come with complimentary video tutorials, so if you like to watch and paint by following along with our professional artist, you can do so.
You also have the option to challenge your creativity. Each kit has a flyer with a picture of the painting and detailed instructions on the step-by-step painting process. Once you read these, you can leave the flyer on the side and follow your instinct and artistic voice to lead your painting.
3. Setting up for your home painting party and creating a ritual around it is like a happy-mood booster.
In one of our next blog posts, I will explain to you how to create your ritual of getting ready for the painting experience. This is a wonderful way to switch off from your daily routine, thoughts and habits and move your mind to a more relaxed and even spiritual state.
The process of “setting up” is enjoyable as you need to select what drinks and snacks to complement your experience, what music you are going to play to get those creative juices flowing, how are you going to arrange and decorate the table, and so on.
Of course, if you are setting up a party only for yourself it won’t be a lot, but if you like to have a few more people with you, you may want to check our complete planner of “How to plan a painting party at home”.
There you have it, I am giving a lot of pro tips on how to plan a painting party and make a memorable experience.
4. Mixing colours – this is where the fun part starts.
Many studies show that colours have a huge influence on creativity and even the fact that colours can improve brain performance.
Let’s look at the primary colours – Blue 🔵, Red 🔴 and Yellow 🟡.
Blue 🔵 is known as a creativity booster, red 🔴 is a colour enhancing the attention to the detail and yellow 🟡 is а happy and energetic colour.
Now, by mixing only those three base colours you can achieve pretty much any other colour on earth. This is what makes mixing colours so existing. You need to add a little touch of blue to the red and you already have beautiful purple. Add some red to the yellow and will have a warm orange colour.
The best part of mixing colours is that no one can tell you what colour you want to create and use in your painting, you get to choose and make your own colours.
This takes me to the next point.
5. While painting with acrylic, everything is in your control.
You are the artist and the boss of this canvas. Everything you paint comes from your heart and it’s made with your personality.
Being in control and painting the way you want, makes a little magic happen in your brain. This moment of knowing that you can do everything you want calms your mind, makes you feel happy and it’s a great self-esteem booster.
6. Paint at your own pace – another beauty of painting at home is that you can do it for as long as you wish.
Acrylic paints are fast drying mediums, which can be fixed with a few techniques. However, they also allow us to build layers, which means you can paint over and over until you reach the desired shape and colour.
No pressure, no stress, junt fun.
That is what painting is. Comparing it to stress-relieving activities, it is also recommended to relieve anxiety and mental health issues.
7. Satisfaction with achievement.
Raise your hand if you think the same “I am not a creative person”, “I cannot paint, I have two left hands (if you are right-handed)”, “I have never done painting” and so on. Yes, I know, I used to say the same things to myself until I took the brushes and started painting.
I am going to let you sometimes which is not a secret, paint and sip parties are not a fine art class. You don’t need to follow any rules, or master difficult techniques. The paint and sip parties are all about starting from a blank canvas and getting to a beautiful result. It’s all about having fun in the process by doing something creative.
A good artist instructor will show you easy techniques and will simplify the steps for you, so you can complete the painting with the most beautiful result.
In the end, you will feel like you have been hiding a little Picasso and you will definitely want to have these experiences over and over again.
8. Sipping & snacking something yummy.
Good food and drinks make the party special and certainly contribute to our happiness. Having a glass of delicious wine or bubbly prosecco, or other drink of choice, while you are painting can also help to break the ice with your self-doubt that you cannot paint.
Something like the popular phrase “You can dance” signed by Vodka.
However, alcohol is not mandatory so grab your drink of choice.
One of the ways to create an unforgettable experience is when you select your food & drinks which match the theme of the event or the party. In my e-planner “How to plan a painting party at home,” I give quite a few interesting ideas of what you can serve to your guests. This is extremely handy if you plan a party for more than 3 people.
However, if you are planning a painting party only for yourself or with your partner or even with a couple of friends, the best option will be to choose one of our Painting Art Kits – here.
Final thoughts
Paint and sip at home is a different, exciting, and fun way to spend some quality time with friends and family. But it’s not only that, think about painting as a “self-made wellbeing retreat” for yourself. The new style of meditation or yoga for your soul.
Having, every now and then, some “me” time it’s so important in our days. To take the pressure of non-stopping thoughts and uncertainty about the future.
You easily can switch off and relax because your mind is focused on the painting. It’s a time off for your eyes too because you are not staring at the computer or phone screen.
Painting makes you feel good and it does not require a lot of equipment and tools. A good painting art kit has everything and it’s perfect to buy all materials on one go. If you haven’t tried to paint and sip at home experience yet, now is the perfect time to do this.
Tons of love,
Mariella xx
