The best part about indulging in the arts is that you don’t have to be a professional to create it. All you need is your canvas, paintbrush, and creativity to express yourself through your art. 

Art facilitates self-expression. You don’t have to be in art school or have a talent for creating realistic paintings; the sheer act of putting your paintbrush onto the canvas allows you to rediscover yourself. 

Indulging in the arts comes with a vault of long-term benefits. And through this article, we’ll explore some of them. 

Benefits of Art

Working from home? Then it isn't such a bad idea to disconnect from the monotonous online presence and take a break. Creating art is a beautiful way of being present in the now and disengaging from the external pressures and chaos, even if it’s momentarily. 

Here we’ve put together a list that elaborates on the therapeutic benefits of creating art.

Benefit #1: Stress Relieving Activity 

Adopting a healthy lifestyle is critical to our well-being. Plus indulging in creating art acts as an efficient way of venting out subdued emotions and anxious thoughts. Simple art-related activities like painting, drawing, clay sculpting and leathercrafting can go a long way in reducing stress levels. 

While creating art, you’ve to devote your sole attention to the task at hand. This acts as an excellent distraction for your mind from the overwhelming thoughts that constantly preoccupy us. 

Benefit #2: Boosts Creativity 

There’s no definite right or wrong while creating art. The process of indulging in it can help foster creativity as it constantly keeps your mind engaged. Creating art allows you to come up with unique ideas and spontaneous solutions; this mindset is extended into your everyday life. Creativity is all about exploring, imagining and discovering, making it a perfect catalyst for boosting critical thinking and expression. 

Benefit #3: Improves Quality of Life

Incorporating art into your everyday life comes with many benefits, including your ability to deal with stress and mental exhaustion. In today’s times, balancing work life with family life is a challenge that many individuals face. Indulging in creating art allows you to disengage yourself from your workplace while you’re at home. Not only does this improve your efficiency, but also helps you to lead a more fulfilling lifestyle. A life where you’re in the moment rather than being preoccupied.

Benefit #4: Boosts Problem Solving & Memory

According to recent studies, indulging in art positively impacted the problem-solving skills of students. 

These students demonstrated (and we quote) that they are “more likely to be intentional in their decision making, follow through on tasks, be deliberate in their approaches, approach accidents and difficulties with patience.”

Additionally, creating art is beneficial for the ageing brain. It serves as a tremendous cognitive exercise as it requires you to indulge in creative visualization and memory retention. Age-related mental decline is primarily due to the loss of communication between brain cells. Practising art can, thus, contribute to brain stimulation and the growth of new neurons.  

Benefit #5: Encourages Mindfulness 

The ability to be fully present in the now, aware and conscious of our surroundings, is something that has gone amiss from our generation. Creating art is a great way to achieve mindfulness. How? As you are compelled to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. Activities such as knitting, stitching, leathercrafting and so forth are effective ways of -

a. disengaging yourself from work-induced stress and

b. immersing yourself in the here and now. 

Benefit #6: Enhances Self-Esteem 

Indulging in learning a new skill such as sewing, leather crafting or even painting can stimulate the release of dopamine into your body. This helps keep the brain active, decreases negativity and boosts self-esteem and positive emotions.  

Participation in art creation improves one's well-being by suppressing negative emotions and stimulating positive emotions. (A study titled The Connection Between Art, Healing and Public Health)

This, in addition to the sense of calm you achieve while creating art, also helps you focus on the positives rather than being bogged down by the negatives. 

Benefit #7: Boosts Observational Skills 

Quoting Leonardo da Vinci, “Painting embraces all the ten functions of the eye; that’s to say, darkness, light, body and colour, shape and location, distance and closeness, motion and rest.” 

By indulging in creating arts, you become more observant and start paying more attention to your surroundings. In the true sense of the word, you start to actually “see” your surroundings and experience them.

Benefit #8: Boosts Diligence And Perseverance

The benefits of arts and crafts extend into the healthy growth of individuals who practice them. They help you grow not only on a cognitive level but also on a social and emotional level. 

While indulging in a DIY craft activity, you may face a roadblock. Regardless of whether you are skilled or not, these obstacles are bound to crop up. When faced with these obstacles, your attitude and perseverance help you grow as an individual. Rather than giving up and taking the easy route out, you must keep at it. This relentless pursuit of excellence will help change your mindset and help you overcome obstacles you face at your workplace.

Benefit #9: Increases Empathy And Tolerance 

A study conducted amongst a group of 10,000 students revealed that just a one-hour trip to the museum induced positive emotions amongst the students and changed the way they felt. 

In addition, the students who visited the museum showed improved critical thinking skills, but they also exhibited greater empathy regarding how people lived in the past and expressed greater tolerance towards people different from themselves. 

Additionally, reports suggest that simply looking at the work of art boost a release of dopamine levels in the brain, similar to the feeling of falling in love. 

Benefit #10: Boosts Critical Thinking  

One of the significant reasons humankind has been involved in creating art ever since we were cave-dwellers is that art allows us to use our imagination. When you indulge in creating art, you’re exposed to making a series of decisions, from what kind of drawing base to use, what colour scheme to follow and how to translate what you imagine onto your canvas. 

Create With Artisans Craft Kit 

Leathercrafting is an excellent art-related activity that you can consider taking up. The rise of technology has meant that you can now indulge in creating art from the very comforts of your home through online resources. 

We, at Artisans, have put together a wholesome, beginner-friendly leather crafting kit that will help you get started with the fundamentals of leather stitching. It’s provided with DIY templates that will guide you in crafting out primary leather products like tote bags and keychains.

To Conclude

Thus, indulging in the arts is a great way to break the monotony of working from home while adding a new skill to your repertoire. 

In addition, studies have established a correlation between indulging in arts and a positive impact on the conditions of people suffering from mental health conditions. 

Art is, therefore, a social determinant of our health, and although it may not necessarily cure you of your disease, it has a proven positive impact on the condition.

So indulge in creating art, of course minus the performance pressure, and go on to express yourself.