Pasadena Villa Orlando Residents Enjoy Social Integration through Art Adventures: Plein-Air

Posted 06-03-2015

Marnita Patton, MA, ATR, CCBT, CGT, CDP, Art Therapist at Pasadena Villa Orlando, led residents on an Out and About Art Adventure entitled: Plein-Air at Cranes Roost Park. Cranes Roost Park is in the heart of Uptown Altamonte, located in Central Florida, surrounding Cranes Roost Lake. The scenic lake is encircled by one mile of continuous walkway with benches and covered seating areas. While at the park, our residents had the opportunity to create beautiful pieces of art and socialize.  Residents even got to meet Bill McCombs, a Park Ranger. He shared details and answered questions about his job and enlightened us with interesting facts about Cranes Roost Park.

During the outing residents had the opportunity to enjoy a walk, find a comfortable spot, set up their materials and participate in a particular style of painting called Plein-Air. This is a French expression meaning “in the open air” and is used to describe a style of painting that is produced in the natural light out doors. This style was developed among French Impressionists. According to Plein-Air Painters of America the goal of plein-air painting is to capture the color and light specific to the particular environment being painted.

Plein-air painting is about painting from nature and creating paintings in the moment, without even sketching or building up the canvas. Since this was our first Plein-Air event, bold strokes of pastel were used to try to capture the large items in our view, like trees.  Residents were told not to concentrate on the small details when creating their masterpieces. There were countless scenes which made lovely compositions that everyone liked; however, the models were not so cooperative with us beginners!  To counterbalance this, residents took photos while at the Park. The photos taken will be the motivation for future art work back in the studio without the constant movement created by outside elements.

Pasadena Villa programs set out to create a comforting and therapeutic environment. We do things a normal family would do. Our staff and residents learn and model appropriate social and communication skills, from daily mealtimes, to many fun and relaxing arts and crafting activities.

Our mental health professionals work directly with residents. They observe them in actual social situations and incorporate these observations directly into the resident’s ongoing treatment plan.  This individual real life personalized attention makes the Pasadena Villa treatment experience more appropriate, relevant and beneficial for each of our residents, especially when compared to any other available adult residential treatment mental health services.

The Villa Orlando and Pasadena Villa’s Smoky Mountain Lodge are adult intensive psychiatric residential treatment centers for clients with serious mental illnesses. We also provide other individualized therapy programs, step-down residential programs, and less intensive mental health services, such as Community Residential Homes, Supportive Housing, Day Treatment Programs and Life Skills training. Pasadena Villa’s Outpatient Center in Raleigh, North Carolina offers partial hospitalization (PHP) and an intensive outpatient program (PHP). If you or someone you know may need mental health services, please complete our contact form or call us at 877-845-5235 for more information.

Sources:

• AltaMonte.org
• Painting.About.com
• PleinAirPaintersofAmerica.com
• OrlandoSentinel.com