Paint my Portrait!

Version 1.0 (October 2025)

Introduction

This is a 45/60-minute activity to get people thinking about what it might mean to create a 'portrait of your place and community'.

It is quick, easy and energising.

The activity is sourced from What is a Doughnut Portrait? And how to make one.

Getting started (10 minutes)

Start by asking "what is a portrait?" and invite responses

Ok, let's create some quick portraits!

1. Everyone get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and get into pairs.

2. Draw a sketch of your partner… in just 10 seconds!
(You can count people in, "3... 2... 1... GO!" and it's more playful to be really strict when time is up, by shouting "PENS DOWN!")

3. Now show each other your portraits.

4. What do you think? What features did they capture? What did they miss? Have we got Picassos in the room?

Making a more complete picture (10 minutes)

Now you’re going to create a more complete portrait, and to do this you’re going to ask each other  the following questions to each other and draw (or write) the answers that you hear on the portrait:

- What skills and talents do you have?

- What about you can be measured in numbers?

- What practical things help you live well?

- What relations are most important to you in your life?

- What are your hopes for the future?

Reflecting on our portraits: how did it go? (10 minutes)

- Did they get an accurate portrait of you?

- Which things best captured you?

- What’s missing?

- Were there any issues with the process?

- What might you change about the process?

Stick your portraits up on the wall to make our gallery

Making the leap, from individual to community portrait (10 minutes)

What have we learned from this process, that might inform how we might go about creating a portrait of our place and community?

Process reflections (5 minutes)

If we were to create a 'portrait of our place and community'...

- Through whose eyes are we looking?

- What biases might we be bringing?

- What time do we need to do this well?

- How might a portrait be seen and interpreted?

What is a Doughnut Portrait (15 minutes)

Play this video to introduce Doughnut Portraits, that includes examples and how you can make one.

You can use these slides

Link to slides