Intuitive Art Making part 1

On Letting Go of Noise and Tuning Into Yourself

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.

Examples of my intuitive drawing. The first is pencil with oil paint. The second is pen with colored pencil.

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