Painting like Picasso Workshop

As I sip my glass of Malaga wine I contemplate my attempt at painting like Picasso. I won’t be selling this canvas for millions, that’s for sure, but I will be taking home a unique memento of a fun 2 hours spent with my fingers deep in paint, collage and glue. Not to mention some very strange facial features. My 4 companions and I have just discovered that we too can paint like the 20^th century’s most famous artist.

You can’t miss Picasso when you visit Malaga. As well as his home you can also see the Picasso Museum, sit next his very lifelike statue, take a Picasso tour, buy any number of themed souvenirs and now, paint like Picasso.

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And to do this you visit the Retorno de Lilith, appropriately just a few metres from where the great artist was born and spend a couple of hours discovering your artistic talents. The workshop is in the Lagunillas neighbourhood, home to some of the best street art in Malaga.

This bright and airy studio is run by Silvia Muñoz, a local and an artist with a mission – to get everyone creating and painting with no inhibitions. And like Picasso.

A start to painting like Picasso

Silvia first gives us an introduction to the artist, his life and his work. We watch an excellent video, crammed full of anecdotes and examples of his work. We discover that Picasso’s first word was “piz piz”, short for “lapiz”, the Spanish for pencil. We take a stroll through all his major painting periods and of course, the women in his life.

Silvia then shares extra knowledge before we move to the nitty gritty. Daylight floods in, Spanish guitar plays in the background and it’s time to put our talent to work. Except there’s no pressure at all – this isn’t a workshop teaching you how to paint or expecting you to produce something to put on your living room wall. This is all about fun.

Your blank canvas

“Have no fixed ideas,” says Silvia, “just do whatever you fancy.” So we do through the series of steps. We start with collage. Ilse and I both go for the coloured newsprint and cut out the word ‘Malaga’ before sticking it onto our canvas. Others are cutting out triangles and squares. But we’re all getting stuck into the collage, probably for the first time since we were in primary school.

The next step involves our phones and taking selfies. These we then put onto paper but in Picasso fashion. Silvia provides some helpful guidelines – how to draw eyes, noses and mouths as if we were Picasso – and we then create ourselves ready for the final step.

Paints and paintbrushes appear and we’re mixing colours and daubing our canvases for the final touches. Again, we go with the flow of our own creativity and 5 finished pictures emerge.

We’re all surprised to find that the 2 hours have flown by and amazed at what we’ve put on our canvases. The end results are colourful, weird and wonderful but all definitely have an air of Picasso about them. Against all odds, we’ve painted like Picasso.

The studio

To help get the creative juices going, Silvia’s studio hosts art exhibitions by local artists. Some very impressive work including papier-maché, macramé and portraits was on the wall during our visit. And Silvia also sells local art too, helpfully in carry-on-luggage size so it’s easily portable.

The workshop

The Look of Picasso Workshop takes place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 11am and 1pm. Alternative times are available – enquire by email (elretornodelilith.art (at) gmail.com).

Cost: €40 for adults and €30 for children

To book: via website, email or by phone.

Suitable for children? From 7 upwards. Silvia can also arrange family painting sessions.

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We’d like to thank Silvia and El Retorno de Lilith for inviting us to a painting like Picasso workshop. It was definitely a fun way to spend a morning and we’d recommend it for anyone who fancies a couple of hours creating and/or is looking for something different to do in Malaga.