Students brush away the blues at Painting Night

Fifteen creative students wielded paint brushes at the Observatory on Oct. 8 as part of a two-hour painting event in the college’s Fall Into Wellness series.

“I try to associate what I’m feeling with colours because I see colours in my head. For example, sad is normally blue, so when I feel sad, I use blueish colours in my painting,” said Lyla Biggs-Critch when asked about mental health and how it affects painting. Biggs-Critch is a music industry arts student.

The series, which happens over two weeks, is inspired by World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10.

“Painting is one activity that can be used to reduce stress. It offers someone something else they can focus on.” said event coordinator Tatanisha Riggan.

Riggan, who is an equity, diversity and inclusion coordinator for Algonquin Students’ Association, said the purpose of th event is for students to reduce stress by painting.

“We wanted to create an opportunity for students to come and create something beautiful.” Riggan said.

A former Algonquin College student, Mitra Salamzada, was the lead painter for the event.

Salamzada explained how her love of art came to be.

“Since I was young I was into art and in Grade 5 I had sold my first painting to my friends. That was when I realized that art means a lot to me,” said Salamzada.

Her art journey continued and she won an art contest in Grade 11. The prize money allowed her to buy her first ever professional art supplies.

Salamzada has an Instagram account with 4,000 followers, and has her own website dedicated to selling her art. Her tagline is “Dreamer of colours, painter of dreams.” She also teaches art to children and adults.

At the event, Salamzada painted along with the students, telling them how to blend and paint a picture of a sunset, with an example of the painting shown along with the blank canvas she painted with.

Salamzada also encouraged students to draw their own things if they weren’t comfortable with following along.

Students blended acrylic paint to make a beautiful array of colours on the canvas. Most students followed along with the lesson, and some students decided to paint their own thing. Each student was participating and having fun, destressing after another challenging day at school.