We’ve got our friends with their four young children staying with us at the moment, and when I got up this morning I couldn’t get any breakfast for a while because they were all drawing and colouring on the dining room table. Children love to draw and paint and their creativity is unlimited. But as adults we get scared of putting pencil to paper, and say “I can’t even draw a stick man!”

So why and when does this love of drawing fade out of our lives?

Is it when we are told in school that we are no good at art? Or do we loose our drawing inhibitions during our teenage years when we try to become just like all our friends? Or are we afraid of what other people will say about our pictures?

Whatever the reason is, it often takes a long time for adults to begin to paint again, or even to get the desire to paint in the first place. But with gentle encouragement and a few helpful tips, we can all recover the joy of creating a painting, just like when we were young.