I recently created a workshop format for business professionals to get them to start painting with oil colors by connecting painting with decision making theories.

This type of workshop works well for team events and offsite and networking events between business professionals from different industries.

What benefits does this type of painting workshop have for participants?

The key benefit is self-awareness and hopefully creating a passion for painting.

There seems today to be a misunderstanding that painting is purely expressive and easy. In fact, it is the opposite: to create a truly successful painting is one of the hardest problems to solve. It is like an elaborate puzzle that will be successful only when all elements balance and work together.

How to tackle such a difficult problem can teach us a lot about our ability to have good judgment and to tackle everyday problems. Several biases and outside factors will always play a role too.

To become self-aware of both your own decision-making style and outside factors can create a useful tool for making better decisions in life and at work.

This week I did a little experiment.

I did a painting workshop with beginners and connected painting to decision making theories. I compared a blank canvas to other challenges in life and asked them how they would approach it. I made available oil painting materials and the beautiful venue at Hatfield House and let participants tackle painting like a difficult problem.

The idea behind my workshop was to relate painting to everyday decision making in order to throw beginner painters into the painting process and let their own minds explore how to get to the final outcome they want to achieve. What I realised is that as much as painting can teach us about decision making, equally decision making theories can teach us a lot about painting too.