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Chiswick Business Network

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I have been a member of Chiswick Business Network for over a year. It’s a lovely community of local businesses meeting over zoom during lockdown. Last few months the meetings have been held at some rather lovely local venues such as The Chiswick Cinema, High Road Studios, VetureX, the new XandWhy, to name a few. Apart from meeting and sharing business know-hows it is a great opportunity to explore local venues.

Jeannie Shapiro who runs the network https://www.meetup.com/Chiswick-Business-Network/ is every so lovely and does an amazing job at organising the events. So, when she asked me to run Art workshop for the Christmas party, I was very excited. Having run through a few ideas, I decided to do a festive paint your own Christmas card workshop. We had an amazing local pub The Queens Head https://www.queensheadchiswick.co.uk/ as our venue. We expected about a third to take part but nearly all the attendees took part. It was frantic fun running three sessions to accommodate everyone. I always take plenty of supplies so there was enough material. 

This is what Diane Chandler, an author https://www.dianechandlerauthor.com/ had to say, “Thank you so much for such a fun Christmas party! I had a ball and have my homemade Christmas card proudly propped up on the mantelpiece. I also bought some of San’s much more skilfully crafted cards to send!”

I had just as much fun and a massive thank you to everyone who came. What set this event apart for me was the number of men who participated. Quite often people are surprised at what they can achieve. It’s all there within you, all I do is put the tools in front and watch your creativity flow. Watercolours have a reputation for being quite difficult to work with. It is not entirely true. It doesn’t have to be difficult. I prepare themes that are easy. Even if you have never used a paint brush before, you will enjoy it by the end of the session. It’s a pleasure sharing what little I know ☺

Art Therapy for Men

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For the Love of Tulips

I had the pleasure of hosting Art Social via zoom for this lovely bunch. I was quite nervous about this booking as I knew no one in the group apart from the organiser I had a zoom chat with. I had no idea what their skill level was. I had no idea how many were going to turn up. This Art Social was also going to be challenging as I was going to paint live with acrylics. Normally I use oil pastels for zoom workshops. I can be quite messy working with paints in my home studio. I was afraid of spilling paint, getting my hands and face covered in paint etc. Reason I had to use acrylics – they were all sent packs with canvas and acrylic paints. The pack included palette, brushes and apron. How exciting!

At 10:25am on the 8th of July, I started the zoom meeting to be ready for 10:30am start. There was ping and a face popped up. Within next few minutes I had ten faces. Ten new faces. I started with the usual round of introduction. They all knew each other. They all said they had not painted before, all beginners keen to use their art materials. Not all, some were very unsure of their artistic abilities – this is always good news to me. I love helping people build confidence when it comes to making art. It is the process of relaxing and enjoying that is more important than the end result. The end result is always amazing anyways. What you paint or create is unique to you. Just that in itself is amazing.

Hour and a half later, we wrapped up, having successfully painted tulips. No mess made! I also realized I was on the right path – doing what I am meant to be doing. I know how to run a successful, relaxing and fun art workshop. I loved that they trusted me, gave me great feedback and would like to book another session soon.