The Benefits of Painting: How Art Can Improve Your Mood and Focus
by Juan Carlos Rosa Casasola, 2025
The Benefits of Painting
How Your Creative Hobbie Can Improve Your Mood and Focus
Something I often see when teaching painting is that participants come in tense. They try to get it “right.” My job? To help them loosen up and start playing. And it's always rewarding to witness how quickly they begin to enjoy the process.
Painting is a powerful tool to reduce stress — and if you’ve ever felt calmer after a creative session, or more focused after mixing colors and brushing layers onto a canvas, you’re not imagining it. Science backs it up: painting is good for your brain.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of painting — how it helps ease anxiety, improve focus, and reconnect you with yourself in everyday life.
Painting as Stress Relief
We could make a never-ending list of daily stressors — but let’s not. Instead, let’s focus on the small rituals that help us slow down, be present, and shift from overthinking to simply doing. For me, painting is one of those things that makes me forget my phone even exists.
Studies show that visual art activities like drawing and painting can lower cortisol levels (the hormone responsible for stress) and promote relaxation.
And here's a bonus: the simpler the painting, the quicker you finish it — and the quicker you get that dopamine boost from starting and completing something with your own hands and creativity. That’s a win.
Painting Improves Focus and Flow
Painting isn’t just relaxing — it’s also an exercise in focus.
Choosing colors, mixing until you find the right shade, observing shapes, noticing shadows — these actions help train your brain to stay in the present moment.
This full immersion is known as flow, a state linked to increased creativity, emotional regulation, and happiness.
In a world of distractions, painting helps us practice sustained attention — one brushstroke at a time.
Mindfulness
Painting can be a form of meditation. When you paint, you’re expressing energy and emotion without needing to name them.
I invite you to simply observe what you’re doing: how the color blends, how the brush glides across the paper, how your breath connects with your lines. That’s mindfulness in action.
The Social Benefits of Painting
Another surprising benefit of painting is connection. Joining a painting class introduces you to a group of people who are also curious and open to learning. The shared experience of creating together — and making mistakes together — builds trust, joy, and even friendships.
At Berlin Drawing Room, our weekly classes are intentionally small. That creates space for real conversation and mutual support in a relaxed environment.
As a teacher, I also benefit from this beautiful atmosphere the group creates. I love it!
What the Science Says
Scientific research shows that creative practices like painting support emotional wellbeing, focus, and stress relief — even when done simply for enjoyment.
Studies in psychology and neuroscience suggest that painting can:
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Reduce anxiety and stress markers (like cortisol)
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Improve mood and emotional resilience
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Activate the brain’s reward system
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Increase concentration and cognitive flexibility
Just the act of painting — choosing colors, observing, focusing, creating — is enough to spark positive change.
Final Thought: Art is a Tool for Wellbeing
It doesn’t matter how big or which style your painting is to feel the benefits. The value is in the process itself — paying attention, expressing yourself, and enjoying time offline.
Painting combines focus and freedom. It asks you to look closely, slow down, forget about the world outside and be kind to yourself in the process.