At times, usually after spending hours indoors, I feel myself get an undeniable urge to be creative. It’s these times when I recognize my mind going a mile a minute and my fingers fidgeting and my eyes searching for stimulation in color or words (depending on my mood). Usually I turn to a pen and paper to squelch these urges but there are some day’s where writing isn’t what my creativity clamors for.

On these days I pretend I can paint. I was first drawn to painting by the art work of my cousin, a talented amateur painter who’s first projects included “creative journals” a diary of mixed media that used colors, paint, ribbons, pictures, and words to convey feeling and emotions. I paged through her diary in awe, it was so captivating and raw in emotion, visually describing in a rainbow of color the emotions evoked by the words on the page.

Inspired I bought a cheap set of acrylic paints, a selection of brushes, also on sale, and a pack of canvases. It’s taken some time to convince myself that I don’t need to be any good to enjoy painting. And even more time to convince myself that I can just paint without any sort of final project in mind. This sort of unimagined, unscheduled approach to painting is even more fun when sharing your canvas. My boyfriend and I have painted a few canvases together, each of us stating on opposite sides. These paintings are always interesting to watch come together and though they may not be the prettiest pieces of artwork they are definitely the most fun.

Painting is a relatively cheap alternative to other activities, perfect for dates with both friends and lovers, they allow the painters plenty of conversation opportunity as well as a sense of achievement when complete. Another perk to painting is that it’s easily done at any time of day, so you 6:00-or-later’s this is perfect for you. I like to put on some music and take a break from the television chatter when I paint. Sometimes I try to imagine what the music would look like if I painted it and I try to paint the song that is on, other times I just let the music exist in the background and watch my brush color the canvas whatever color my heart desires. Having a good painting experience doesn’t require much money or talent, though depending on how intricate your idea, it can easily become an evening long-event. If nothing else, painting is a great productive form of stress relief that’s relatively inexpensive. So, go grab a brush!