Painting for Brain Health
When I paint, my brain engages in ways I am not used to and it feels invigorating and empowering. As I grasp at ways to put on canvas what my mind's eye imagines, I can almost feel my brain reordering itself to come up with the artistic answers it seeks.
This brain painting induced exercise and rewiring, while in my mind, is not just in my imagination. It turns out that my brain really is rebuilding itself to cope with the creative demands of recreating images in pigment. The September 2016 Reader Digest confirms it citing a mayo clinic research study that showed artistic endeavors help the brain to reconnect synaptic nerve ends and refreshed grey matter.
As I write this, I am also watching the Olympics, and it reminds me of the movie, "Chariots of Fire" where the Olympic runner tells his sister that he will wait until after he competes in the Olympics to follow his call to the mission field because, he says, "I feel God's pleasure when I run." There's just something special about sharing a little piece of God's creative spark by painting, even when we try copying the perfect masterpieces He blesses us with in nature. Every sunset is new, beautiful and painted across the sky for us by our Creator.
"Beauty is in the hand of the artist," is something I tell budding painters at our Group Paint parties. Apparently, the more you paint, the more the beauty of art is building your brain. So pick a paintbrush and pickup a few new synaptic brain connections. Don't know where to start? Well, join us for a Group Paint party and we will help get you started step by step.
