As someone who enjoys painting, drawing and photography, I would describe myself as a creative person. I, however, would not describe myself as an artist or a photographer. Growing up, I took many art classes, but throughout adulthood, I have lost some of those skills and never committed the time to practicing and regaining them. 

For years, I have been wanting to get back into painting or drawing, but every time I tried, I was never happy with what I made, didn’t have the patience for it or didn’t trust the process enough to finish what I started. 

This feeling of wanting to be creative but not liking the outcome is something I am sure many can relate to, and is what prevents a lot of people from seeing their projects through or trying creative projects altogether. 

This is unfortunate, because partaking in creative hobbies and reaching a creative flow state can be so beneficial to our mental well-being. According to The Journal of Positive Psychology, practicing creative hobbies is shown to increase positive mood through joy and optimism and decrease stress and anxiety. Similarly, how walking outside is good for mental well-being, it is good to make things with your hands, whether that’s through cooking, painting or building. 

Becoming immersed in a creative hobby or project and having the ability to let go of a desired outcome can feel so liberating.  The feeling of accomplishment when the project turns out can be compared to a runner’s high. So, if creativity is so great, why is it so hard to get started?

This past year, I signed up for a photography class within the fine arts department at the U of M to fulfill one of my elective courses. This course rekindled my love for creating and the creative process as a whole. Each project, I was so nervous about meeting the expectations of the briefs and having to display my work amongst other students who were actually pursuing degrees in fine arts, but this pushed me to take chances and create some of my favourite works. 

For my final project in this course, I decided to try something I had never done before, which was to paint on top of my photographs. As mentioned, I do not consider myself a photographer, but I did have some previous experience with Photoshop and painting. As the deadline approached, I still had no clue what to photograph or paint and was driving home one night when inspiration struck. 

The roads were wet from rain, and the lights from the city were vibrant and reflecting off of everything — the colours from the lights were blending together like a painting. I immediately drove home, grabbed my camera and headed back out to try my hand at nighttime photography to capture the painterly quality I had seen on my drive. 

Over the next few days, I started scouring through images I had taken over the years, to find other scenes that also had some flow or painted qualities in them. I then began digitally overlaying similar outtakes over one another and manipulating them to create a more blended appearance prior to printing them out. Then, it was time to paint. 

I went in with no real plan, just my instincts. The feeling was like muscle memory — using only my old tubes of three primary colours and white and black paint, I had to trust my gut and not overthink it, just mix the colours to match the photo, then decide on a painting technique. Don’t think, just do.

By the end, I was using everything from brushes to saran wrap, my hands and cloths to blend or create texture where I thought it was needed. It was around 3 a.m., and I had had so much fun making the images that I didn’t really care if they would be considered “good” or not — the process of making them from start to finish was thrilling. I had finally rediscovered my love for painting and creativity again.

Since that class, I have yet to return to painting — I have no idea what to paint! I have, however, opened the door to less “risk-taking” creative projects like DIY miniature book nook dioramas. These include simple step-by-step instructions that let you get immersed in making something with your hands without having to make any of the decisions. If you are wanting to pick up a creative hobby, but have no clue where to begin, I would highly recommend these book nooks to get you started! Otherwise, just pick up some paint and go for it.