Sometimes I go a while without making much art or doing much writing. And the act of creating starts to feel intimidating. After a while a part of me tries to avoid it entirely. I’ll find myself cleaning the sink or thinking about my taxes. Instead of picking up my brushes or pen. The holidays will do that. They can make us feel untethered. I’ve felt it. Maybe you have too.
I find that tapping into my intuition is a great way to reenter art making. Intuition. What does it mean to you? Intuition can feel like such a loaded word. Some people call it “trusting your gut.” Yeah, that works. You can equate intuition with trusting your gut if that’s helpful. For me, intuition, is when I’m truly listening to my most honest self. So, trusting my gut. Earnestly. And this means sifting through a lot of “chatter” in my head. Tuning in. It can mean slowing down. It can mean trusting the very first thing that comes to mind.
When the act of making art feels intuitive I often surprise myself in the best way. Things just tend to happen. From a series of scribbles, a beautiful bird will take shape in a painting. In writing, whole paragraphs will unfurl in long ribbons.
Intuition is, ultimately, ephemeral and unique to each person. You have to find it yourself. But here’s an exercise I do that’s super helpful.
Breaking this Down into Really Simple Stuff: An Exercise
Part one: Take up a pen or marker or pencil. And some paper. Let the pen move over the page. Don’t try to control it. Pretend, even, that your hand is separate from the rest of your body. Just let it do its thing making lines and shapes and scribbles. Let go. Allow that hand of yours to make a beautiful mess on the page.
Part two: Now take up a color (or a new color, if you started with a color). Fill in some of those scribbly shapes with that color. Bounce around on the paper. Let that color go to town. And when it’s had it’s fill of town, put it down and take up a new color.
Eventually, maybe, some art will start to take shape. And if, after making all these scribbles and throwing down all this color, it just looks like a damn mess, don’t fret. The important thing here is not to judge, but to listen. Notice how you’re feeling. Be open. Ideally this exercise helps you feel more like yourself, more connected to your inner voice.
Whether you are picking up art after a long hiatus or struggling with creative block, I believe this exercise can help. It forces us to embrace the unplanned and unstructured. It detaches us from the analytical and orderly part of our brain and helps to connect with the wild and free part, that untamed stallion.
Words of encouragement: Explore, Pretend, Guess, Trust
Tip: Set a timer for an increment of time that feels comfortable/approachable. 10 minutes is a great amount of time. Everyone has 10 minutes.


Applying Intuition to Real Life
Listening to your gut is a skill that takes practice. Our intuition is with us always, every second of every day. It really is, but we often let things get in the way like work and life and deciding what to have for dinner. Or we grab our phones. Instead of reaching for the phone, ask yourself “how do I feel right now?” or “what do I want to say?” That little voice might surprise you with what it tells you.
Notice how you feel after doing the above exercise and notice when this feeling happens elsewhere in life. Recognizing this feeling in everyday life can be difficult at first. How do you even describe what it is? For me, it feels like a warm glow. Or the feeling of greeting an old friend. Or a good, happy memory of my family or childhood. This is my intuition say, “you are on the right path.”
But that is just me. You have to identify and describe it for yourself. (feel free to share below) When I feel my intuition at work I try to pause and really notice it. I acknowledge it occurring within me, and usually try to write it down immediately or file it in my memory bank until I can write it down.
Intuition can also be an uneasy feeling, like a warning. This is when my gut is saying, “this is not what you want.” For example, about a year ago Lauren and I went out to a restaurant and within 5 seconds of walking in I felt that something was very off. When I scanned the restaurant, the voice within me said, definitively, “no.” I guess I got bad vibes (honestly, vibe-reading can be an entirely different post because I have a lot to say on the matter). Suffice it to say, we did not eat there.
I intended this post to be about intuition as it concerns art making but I’m realizing, through the act of writing all this, that the importance of listening to your gut may warrant an entire post by itself. Because this skill has helped me tremendously in life far beyond making art. I think will write a post about it next. Yes, that feels right.
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I hope to eventually follow up this post with a part 2 that focuses on intuitive writing, something I’ve practiced regularly since college. The first paragraph in this new story is an example of intuitive writing.
Be kind,
Kevin
met you this past year at the pine bush UFO fair, and was lucky enough to get your "ladies is pimps too" painting, which now sits right above me as I write and draw every day. For the past year and the half i have been a full time college student, who also holds way too many official positions lol, and have definitely felt that my brain is too overworked to have the mental space to go hogwild and do more intense bigger paintings like I can have when i am not so busy, and have been definitely missing some of the artistic freedom that i felt like i once had more of an ability to fully embrace. i have been super enjoying hearing you write about intuitive art making your emails the past few months, and it has been something that I have started to do pretty often. for me, its a really beautiful half-way point (but less directly in the middle, its in a place thats constantly moving) between not making anything, and making like, the super mind and time consuming big paintings that I love to do, but just dont have the mental space for right this moment. also, super hyped that you have moved to the 845 area, as i have seen in your posts that you frequent a lot of the places i do as well! always so happy to have more funky artists in the area, truly. not really sure of the intent of this comment, but just wanted to share that wow, intuitive art making is sick as hell, and im glad that you wrote about it cause i hadnt really heard of it prior, and its been such a fun discovery