The Art of Granting Permission

At each of my BrushLive events the same exact situation occurs.

Part 1: An attendee will walk by the collaborative canvas, be curious, and ask me something like “What is this?”. I explain that everyone is invited to paint on the canvas and ask if they would like to add. The initial response is “No, no no. I’m not an artist”. After further explanation on how ‘we are in fact all artists and this is a judgment free canvas’…they typically add something small.

Part 2: That same person will circle back to the canvas 20-25 minutes later. They will marvel at their one swiggle line and ask if they can add more. With a resounding “Yes!” that person grabs a brush and this time goes beyond one swiggle line. They step back, they smile, and say thank you.

Part 3: Another 20-25 minutes later that same person has a friend, a colleague, a partner with them; they walk them up to the canvas and comment something like “I added that part right there, pretty cool right?” They smile, take a deep breath, and sometimes even take a photo.

If you asked me what I hope the takeaway is from my BrushLive event; its creating small, rewarding moments like that for attendees. I want to inspire these moments so that attendees feel a little lighter when they leave. Maybe they go home and talk to their partner about the swiggle line. Maybe they even wake up the next day and reflect on how it felt creating something. And maybe, just maybe that inspires them to want to do it again.

So what I am truly doing is granting permissions to others. Giving them the freedom and the power to be an artist!

Check out the original post here: https://robertoscar.com/blog/the-art-of-granting-permission