Learning How to Paint Formal Proposal

Alaena Aldridge

Professor Todd

LAL102

Formal Proposal

April 5, 2018

Leaning How to Paint Proposal

Problem

            The problem with growing up is that you need have spare time to do the things you loved as a child. Because as a young adult most of us have new responsibilities such as going to college, working a job, and paying for your own bills. I know that I have found this first year of college to be difficult with trying to manage my school, work, family/friends, and mental health, as I am sure many young adults my age knows the struggle. Many of us just want to get our homework done and have extra time to do something for oneself. Living in a small town there is few options when it comes to relieving stress or having fun. We need something in this area that is fun, safe, stress-relieving, and cheap to do.

Proposed Solution

            I propose that learning how to paint could be one of the best options, for my mental and physical health. I will spend a set amount of time each week learning how to paint, figuring out which paints, brushes, and canvases I like best. I will focus on how to focus all my energy into my artwork as well as try to relieve my stress from my everyday life. I am hopeful that learning how to paint will help clear the thoughts and worries about my outside world.   

            If my project/experiment is successful, as I hope it is, I will have found a new hobby. I will have found a way that will help me relieve stress and worries, for just that short hour(s) that I will be working on the art work. If learning how to paint is successful, I will have also learned how to focus my energy on one thing at a time, I believe that this skill will be able to help me in several aspects of life. Focusing my energy could help me become a better thinker, a better communicator, and improve my overall mental health.  

Justification

            At the beginning of this project I did not have much knowledge on how to paint or how to improve my mental health. I have done a lot of research on how to improve my mental health as well as do something fun and safe. I have found several great articles that give examples on how to realize stress and/or how to paint. In Deane Alban’s The Mental Health Benefits of Art is For Everyone gives several great examples on how creating art can improve overall mental health. Alban states that creating artwork allows your mind to be placed in a meditative-like state where all your worries would be sat aside. She later goes on to say that art encourages creative thinking skills, pushing one to use their imagination and think “outside of the box”. Alban’s article is based around one question, “Can Art be Medicine?”.   After completing my research, I can confidently say that art can be use or considered to be a type of medicine. There are several benefits of creating art such as improve overall mental health, improve creative thinking, art can bust one’s self-esteem, there are several other amazing things that art can do for one’s brain. I am very excited to complete this project with the hopes of finding a new hobby and improving my mental health.   

Work Cited

Alban, Deane. “The Mental Health Benefits of Art Are for Everyone.” Be Brain Fit, 11 Feb. 2018,             bebrainfit.com/the-health-benefits-of-art-are-for-everyone/.