ART AS A HOBBY
Often, we hear people say, “I want to do something creative, but I am not artistic.” Art as a hobby is meant for everyone. Many people’s exposure to art is limited to the art classes they attended during their school time and consider art only for those artistically inclined, but this is far from the actual fact.
There is no right or wrong in art and if you have an impulse to create and explore and a little patience art can be taken up as a hobby at any age.
Some of the reasons I would recommend taking up art as hobby are:
- Stress Buster: From personal experience I would say that art is the perfect stress buster. There is a saying by Thomas Merton that “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. This is so very true as when we take up drawing or painting as a hobby we can give expression to our innermost feelings. It is like a time off from our daily routine and deadlines. We can focus all our energy on creating something beautiful and this helps calm and relax us and being in the moment.
- Concentration: Art as a hobby helps us develop concentration. While working on art, we tend to focus our mind on the project at hand and thus it helps us increase our concentration power.
- Patience: Every art project be it a small sketch to a big painting takes time and effort. In the process, we enjoy the steps and develop patience to wait for the end result. It is ideal for having some me time.
3. Hand-Eye Coordination: Art helps hand-eye coordination. It helps us learn to visualize things and put our imagination down on paper or a canvas.
4.Sense of Achievement: Whether you want to display our art masterpiece to others or keep it for ourselves, there is nothing to compare to the sense of achievement we get at the end of a successfully completed art project. The compliments from others are just an icing on the cake.
5.Problem Solving and Eye for Detail: Art helps us in trying to achieve perfection. Every new project is a challenge and we need to decide on how to go about the project, what materials to use, what techniques, how to correct the mistakes, etc. In this process, we learn how to problem solve and an eye for detail which goes a long way in helping us in our daily lives.
Having said all this, I certainly hope that I am able to motivate at least some people to take up art as a hobby. Start today and explore your creativity.
