I recently went to a team building afternoon with my colleagues at The Sunnybank Trust. The idea was that we shut down from work and focused on being together  and engaging in an activity.

I headed over to Leatherhead a bit anxious as the activity involved art and painting. This was something I wasn't particularly good at back at school and I was worried about being judged when I created some unidentifiable mess and ending up wearing more paint than I put on the canvas. This was out of my comfort zone, my canvas is audio rather than actual painting.

After had a yummy lunch together at the Blue Café in Leatherhead we headed to the session at the Stockroom Society  in The Swan Centre. This is the former Next clothing store and has been turned into a shop and art space for local independents to be creative and sell their creations. They had boxes of vinyl records for sale which I enjoyed looking through as we waited for our session.

We were greeted by Louisa who was going to guide us step by step through painting a woodland scene. I had no idea how this would work out as painting isn't really my thing or so I thought. Louisa was really good at putting us at ease and remining us all that there is no right or wrong and  it turned into a fun, non-judgmental session.

While everybody else went for green as their base colour I chose orange, (I do like to stand out!) It was actually quite calming putting the paint on the canvas and adding details with the guidance of Lousia and the support of my colleagues. I even managed to include my cat Magic in the finished masterpiece.

It was pleasing to receive compliments on my work and it turns out that what I created wasn't too bad after all. Yes, I ended up with paint on my clothes but that was part of the experience.  I came home with a painting which I wasn't too ashamed to put on my wall. I’ll take that as a win.

This experience has changed my approach to art. It's good to push yourself out of that comfort zone and try new things.  Like me, you may surprise yourself.

That said, professional artists don’t have anything to worry about -  I  will be sticking  to the day job of making inclusive radio.

The Stockroom Society can be found at Unit 18 in the Swan Centre Leatherhead or go to www.thestockroomsociety.uk

You can listen to The Sunny Sessions, an inclusive radio for and by the learning disability community Monday and Thursday from 10am on Surrey Hills Community Radio and on demand at www.sunnybanktrust.org/sunny-sessions

You can also hear me on Radio Woking Wednesday 7am to 9am and Sunday 9am to noon.

Get in touch with me via [email protected].