Anyone Can Paint

Yesterday was a day for kids in the office. As part of the action plan to make our workplace more caring, we organized a day for the children of our employees. They brought their children ranging from 4 to 17 years old to the office and we had activities for three different age groups 4-6 , 7-12 and 13-17 . In the morning as we started out with the opening session, they did the Chicken Dance, there's a Magician performing and then it was the breakout session for the 3 groups..

I handled the 13-17 years age group. For my group, we had earlier planned many activities for them like Train Station, 100-meter race, James Bond 007 and Dancing Board. As we started the Making Flag activity, we underestimated this group. They took more than an hour just to make the flag. In our normal teambuilding activities for adults, they got it all done plus the group cheer in 20 minutes. In the end, we did not get to experiment the activities we had lined up for them.

After lunch, I taught the group acrylic painting on canvas board. I introduced to them that anyone can paint. When they did their flag in the morning, I did a piece on sunset using acrylic paint. That was a strategy to create their interest. As I took them through the techniques, it was amazing to see their work of art unfolding right before my eyes.

In the beginning, most of them said they could not paint. I told them I once failed in my art test when I was 15. Even though I failed that test at that time, I strongly believe that I can paint. When I was 19, I learned oil painting from an art teacher by accident. Perhaps God sent him to me. He even taught me how to make canvas base using pearl glue and emulsion paint. I stopped painting after that.

A few years back I went through a 3-month art classes by an artist. I attended with a friend and my two daughters. We learned how to paint using oil, acrylic, water color and we were introduced to pastel art. Since then, it's been a long while I have not held a brush until the last 2 days. I felt so inspired sharing my skills with the kids. It was a day that ends beautifully for me savoring the masterpiece by each kid.