When a hobby becomes therapy
My tryst with learning to paint
As was the case with many across the globe, COVID has given us the blessing of extra time. The time otherwise spent in commute, loitering around with friends, or eating out with family is now suddenly free.
And the worse thing that one can do of free time, is to NOT make use of it. Time values higher than money. And it takes a lot of resolve to not let it flow away like a river.
I decided to set a timetable. I started cultivating regular hobbies in my free time. Like I started reading, 1 hour per day. I started writing on medium. And one of the other things I started, was exploring painting.
Why painting? Because it was an incomplete hobby. I knew I was good at it in childhood and I never got around to pursuing it. I was a tiny girl in 3rd grade when my school sent one of my drawings for an all-India contest. And I won first prize.
I never thought much about it. However, it hit me now, that I should try and pursue something that I had a penchant for earlier. And thus started my tryst with painting.
I ordered canvasses and brushes. And started learning painting using Youtube. Initially what I drew, was classified into “Even my 4-year-old son can draw this”, to eventually “okay, this is good” to now “Wow! This is amazing!”.
It has taken me deliberate practice to reach this stage and to me, this stage is like an advanced beginner stage. There are miles and miles to go.
But here’s what pursuing a hobby did for me and here’s why you should get back to it too.
- It helped me kill time in a fun manner and therefore kept my mind away from depressing thoughts. It was easy to get swayed into self-pity or overthinking when you stay alone and have unnecessary time to kill.
- It helped me push my imagination. I was forced to use my sense of visualization. And perspective. Painting is all about these amazingly abstract senses which we don’t get to practice in day to day lives
- It helped me strengthen my weakness — eye for detail. I have a very bad eye for detail. I can never spot small errors and formatting mistakes. But painting forced me to pay attention. Because every stroke mattered.
- It was therapy. Not a single moment that I held my brush, I felt like it was a humongous task. I always felt excited like a child. Wanting to try something new. Even now as I continue to work on this skill, I keep trying new styles, to ensure I don’t slot myself into a particular one.
- It helped me tide over some really tough times. Where I needed to be in control of my mind.
Here are some of my paintings which I thought helped my learning curve. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.
