Goa, us, and art that spoke our truth

Painting and playing with colours give me immense pleasure and through Blogchatter retreats, I get a chance to enjoy these little bundles of happiness. This time, the retreat was in Goa, where I thoroughly enjoyed doing freehand art and reminiscing about my childhood days when painting classes were not meant to release stress, but rather a hobby.

So here, Leha conducted the session, and I must admit that her presentation was superb. The purpose of this session was clear. Simple questions like why we need colours in our lives, how we process our thoughts using colours, and how easily colours reflect your emotions, all this and more were explained by her. For a moment, I forgot I was part of the team and felt excited to begin.

But then, duty as a team member comes first. So, I helped organise the art supplies for all and waited patiently for everyone to settle down so that I could paint too.

Art companions to shape your thoughts

Leha gave us an easy activity to draw our emotions in any form using different colour mediums. Some picked up watercolours, some sketchpens, a few loved crayons, there were stickers, and I wanted to thumb paint. 

Leha played some music in the background that was soothing to my nerves. I felt detached from the world around me and into a fantasy life of colours. The only way to express yourself is through your canvas. I could live in that moment forever.   

Creativity gives you wings

The beauty of this art session was that it was free of restrictions. When you restrict the physical activity, your thoughts also restrict and the true emotions weaving your story are lost midway. So, I confidently picked up the water-colour palette, wet my thumb with water and started making a tree on the white sheet. I didn’t have any story in my mind when I started. I was excited to paint, and a tree is the closest to my heart. 

As the tree was progressing, my thoughts were forming shape and giving words to my expressions. I got the lead and completed my art, feeling happier than ever. My reasons to paint were different. I participated because I love colours and through this session, I would be going back to my childhood to only paint and not release some troubled emotions out of my mind. 

I also got a chance to pause life, forget my duties and keep away my responsibilities for a while and colour. Different colours do have a soothing effect on the human mind and I took good advantage of it. I knew that going back home, I would never sit down again to paint until I attend another Blogchatter retreat.

That’s how when everyone narrated their related stories, my experience was different. 

I lived in the moment, closed my eyes and painted what came first to my mind and that was clearly my love for morning walks. 

Collective fun activities that heal you 

When you are in a community session, you don’t really bother about what’s good or what will give a good impression of me but just go with the flow. 

I enjoyed narrating my experience of painting and realised how easy it is to draw and put down your emotions on canvas. It is true to say that canvas is plain so bring out your most troubled emotions and it will give you the best solution. And that’s what I found listening to others. Some felt happy painting while a few recalled an old forgotten memory but with new confidence and others painted for enjoyment.

It was a pleasure listening to others (you can listen to them here) and understanding their connection with colours. The team shared their stories too. The healing power of colours is remarkable but you need an art session like this that brings the essence of colours alive and explains the procedure to connect, draw and release.