The People’s Painter
Here in this short video, master painter Alan Bell, talks to us from a refuge where he has been helping people to express their inner most feelings and needs through painting for the last 6 years.
Often in life we feel trapped and alone and yearn for a way forward that will be a more fulfilling and a happier place. Unfortunately, sometimes in peoples life’s they lose their way due to all different kinds of circumstances. What Alan and the other people at the refuge have tried to do, is to try and encourage people to express their own hurts and feelings on paper, and to also create a new vision of how they would like to see themselves from now on and the new life they would like to lead.
Creating a drawing or a painting is not always about doing it for the benefit of others, but can benefit us, by allowing us to explain through pictures our life story which is sometimes very hard and painful to talk about.
Projects like this lift the spirit of people who often feel on the outside and give them a focus and something to feel proud of. Many of them make cards or draw pictures for family members and friends and when people praise them for the good work they have done, they are left with a positive feeling and also a smile on their face, which may have not been there for many years.
Although many art tutorials teach us about the basics, it can also teach us about people and how we can bring down barriers through education and having compassion for one other despite our different upbringings or believes.
I hope you enjoy this video and the very positive message that it also delivers to all of us.