The Story of the Puffin Mini Painting Kit

The Puffin Mini Painting Kit (September's installment of the Monthly Mini Painting Club) was born this spring during my studies abroad in Iceland. I spent two weeks traveling around the country to learn about sustainability from the most incredible academics, entrepreneurs and policymakers.

While in Iceland, one of my professors was kind enough to pack along a box full of Mini Painting Kits to host a painting night for my classmates. Truthfully, I had my doubts that a group of business students would be particularly entertained by the activity, seeing as we were in the middle of the remote Westfjords and about to go swimming in one of Iceland's geothermally-heated pools.

However, my classmates proved me wrong! I was struck with a profound sense of awe as I looked around at my classmates–none of whom were given instructions beyond my frantic gestures to the instruction sheets–and observed every one of them painting with their own photos taken just that morning. I saw photos of sprawling landscapes, fjords, flowers and mountains. Everyone got into it. Everyone took the opportunity to appreciate something they'd seen that day and capture the moment with a small piece of art.

The Puffins Mini Painting Kit made its debut at this paint night and was definitely the fan-favorite of the evening. Painting with my class in rural Iceland was such a precious memory from this summer and I'm so excited to share a little bit of that magic with you through this month's mail club. Unfortunately, I didn't get many great puffin photos. We only saw them while out on the ocean so here's the best I can offer you:

If you're looking to learn more about Puffins or see some great reference photos, check out this article from the United Nations HERE.