The Benefits of Painting
There are always struggles and sufferings we are facing and striving to overcome. As a result, it is easy to fall prey to nihilism and despair. However, we want to keep on finding ways to have a meaningful life and cherish it because we live only once. In this regard, painting can benefit us in some ways. Based on the book, Art as Therapy written by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong in 2013, I am summarizing what painting can do for us.
1. It helps us pay attention to the neglected, the overlooked, or the forgotten. Then we can find the beauty of life more.
2. We need positive energy to evade from "excessive gloom". Otherwise we won't be able to cope with all the problems of the world. That's why we have a pretty painting in order to feel cheerful and hopeful.
3. Sometimes it is better to accept perennial suffering which turns into sorrow. When a painting reminds us of "the largeness of time and space," for instance, it helps us to be aware of our insignificance and free us of a feeling of attachment to life.
4. Painting can "supply what is missing from life." For example, when living in a big city, we may not feel connected to the natural world. For this, a landscape painting can fill the gap and help us rebalance our life a bit more.
5. There are many moments that we feel hard to describe in words or to recognize clearly. Painting is a visual practice of emotional and cognitive intelligence which in return makes us understand ourselves more.
6. Painting can awaken unfamiliar thoughts or arouse hidden feelings that seem lost in our routines. When we expand a range of perception and experience something new and strange, we can grow more.
7. Painting shows the real value of ordinary life whereas many commercial images emphasize materially affluent and glamorous life. The former leads to appreciation and happiness. The latter leaves us with the feelings of void and unhappiness.
8. While painting is a pure form of creativity, it can be political, historical, or therapeutic as well. It can assist us in the search for "fulfillment, self-understanding, and consolation."
