Walk in the Sun: Paint Your Life {Discover}

In the city there’s a place where Gail welcomes you with a radiant smile and delicate gestures. She opens the door of her planet: Planète Céramique. 

Once you step in, a wall of bottles of paint shows off its hues, each of them carefully labeled for easier access. This is a place dedicated to rainbows and lights, unicorns and treasures. 

We are a group of 3 women and an 7 kids of very different ages: we share the excitement to be here and to be told that we can choose a white ceramic object to paint and make it come alive with colors and lines, the sky is pretty much the limit which can only be comforting for our creative frenzy. 

There is a wealth of items to choose from: plates, pitchers, mugs, bowls, animals…

Both my girls pick a heart shaped plate - is this a sign from the stars or simple emulation?

Under Gail’s kind guidance, we look up a wall that looks like a Pantone dream: each tile of color is identified by a corresponding number and we soon turn this into a game of simple maths. The children tend to go slightly overboard when choosing the hues they want to use to leave their print on each plate: call it the rules of chromatic attraction, they want to test them all and here is the place where you can make 50 shades out of any starting color and really start experimenting.

Their palettes soon turn into an abstract works of art of their own: the pencils and brushes come and go, new blends appear and the young ones marvel at the results before focusing on the idea they had in mind. Some paint an owl, others a mouse, intricate and minimalist black leaves from a book, they all slowly and carefully take shape, some of them are very orderly, others messy and that's when the frontiers between the colors and the shape of a bill or a wing need to be redefined with a pencil. The beauty of it is that the kids are free to move, no extra directions and their imagination runs free. They are happy creating and being offered the opportunity to create. 

In Gail’s workshop there is a front and a back room: the older kids are working in silence in the back room, signing and dating their works of art like the young professionals they are. They are enjoying the process and the group work and completely own their creations. I wonder where this touch of ownership comes from: they are still young, where have they learned all this? Maybe social media and the visual world they live in actually help them understand the need to leave the print on what they make from scratch? 

Speaking of children and adults: it felt good to try and leave our comfort zone as adults and let the kid in us run free for a couple of hours. We made have promised ourselves to go back as a group of moms so as to let our hearts speak up, take some time off from efficiency and productivity. Gail offers team building sessions, workshops, school activities, and many other group activities - one more proof,  if need be, that creating is good for all of us in need of a new pattern and shape in our life. It is good for all of us willing to paint our own dreams, reality and plans for the future, far from predefined labels and approaches, taking full advantage of a white canvas. What are we waiting for? 

How to reach Gail :

Mobile: 06 37 33 78 43

Email: planete.ceramique@orange.fr

Opening hours

Wed: 14h - 18h

Sat: 14h - 18h

Different days and hours on demand

Address

172, avenue de la Libération

33110 Le Bouscat

France

Credits: TheDaydreamer