ArtSpring Helps Unlock Creativity with Author and Artist Cat Bennett

As a part of their ever-expanding series of in-store events, such as the recent celebration at , author and artist Cat Bennett hosted a drawing workshop and book signing.

The workshop, based on her book The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind, was designed to help adults gain access to their innate creativity. “Schools don’t focus on art much anymore, and people lose touch with it,” said Bennett.

Bennett, who has taught similar classes in London, England and her hometown of Boston, was invited to Silver Spring by ArtSpring co-founder/owner/designer Linda Blackburn. Blackburn formerly lived in Boston and has known Bennett for 16 years. “We brought Cat’s book into the store when it was first published in April of 2010,” she said. “It sold out so fast – people came back to buy additional copies and we knew we just had to do something with her down here in Silver Spring.”

According to Bennett, everyone can use drawing as a way to grow their creativity, develop focus and concentration, de-stress and make themselves happy – even recapture the feeling of being a child. During her classes, she often uses a Pablo Picasso quote to illustrate her point, "It took me four years to learn to paint like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Bennett said that as adults, we put too much pressure on ourselves, and often squelch creative expression before it can begin.“There are no special skills involved in drawing – even doodling during work counts, but subconsciously we think it’s not worth doing if we are not being graded," she added.