Create a Paint by Puzzle© painting.  Select your own subject and invite up to 12 people to participate in the painting.

This is a collaborative group project where each artist participant fills out one section of the puzzle and the painting is then reassembled to create a collective piece.

You take home a mounted final portrait.  The event takes place in the Art For Well Beings art studio in Palo Alto.

Paint by Puzzle ©

By Judy Gittelsohn

I have performed this composite painting project, PAINT BY PUZZLE©, with many groups of people including, Girls to Women of East Palo Alto, the Girls Club of the Mid Peninsula, people with developmental disabilities, adults with illnesses and injuries, adults and kids at art schools and administrators at the Juvenile Court, Community, and Alternative Schools Annual Conference (JCCASAC).

When I did this project with the JCCASAC administrators they were thrilled and several asked if I could create a package or kit for their classrooms.

This project is titled PAINT BY PUZZLE© and it is as follows:
 
I place together 8 x 10 inch heavy cardboards - anywhere from 6 up to 80 and then outline an object or a scene. I photograph this, number it, paint it and create guides - a number guide and a color guide.

Each participant receives one of these 8 x 10 inch boards.  The number guides and color guides instruct each participant how their piece fits into the puzzle and roughly what color to paint their section.

When all the boards are painted, they are reassembled together.  The outcome has been consistently magical.  
 
The production of the painting is painless as the participants are working on their own area, but not painting something that must look realistic. Their skills are not compared with one another, but they are free to be experiential in creating with their distinct area and free to enjoy the painting process.

The separate areas illuminate how each individual handles paint - their brush stroke and their interpretation of the same color. Then when assembled it creates an image and the participants appreciate the whole and their contribution.

It is a satisfying experience by offering the opportunity to play with paint, work in a group and create a final painting that is recognizable.