Why Everyone Should Try Intuitive Painting

If you google the definition of intuitive painting here’s what you’ll find:

Intuitive Painting is a tool for beginners as well as advanced painters. Play is encouraged. The goal is not to make paintings for exhibition or to learn specific techniques. Rather, the goal is to allow yourself the space to be inside color, paint, and process while locating the inner core of your creative self.

That is the perfect definition!

I decided to try intuitive painting because being a licensed artist for the past 20 or so years, I’ve always painted with a purpose and that purpose was…”is this marketable?” “Will people buy it?” My normal process of creating art for licensing is as follows: I start with a sketch, transfer it to paper or canvas depending on what I was painting. I paint within a certain color palette and pretty much knew what the finished painting would look like just from the sketch alone. I have a style and paint themes that my licensees and customers have come to expect from me.

While I’m grateful for this because it has earned my family a fine living over the years, I just wanted to see what I would paint if I didn’t worry about anything but being one with the process. Forget whether my licensees will like it, forget whether anyone will like it….just be. Explore. Play. Be free and see what comes out.

I tried it once…and loved it! I tried it again and still…..loved it! I created a third painting and guess what? Still love it! This process is so free and fun! So far mine have all become floral paintings which is very natural as I love gardening and flowers. But it’s not to say every time I do intuitive painting, they will all be floral. I am hoping as I do this more and more, different shapes will speak to me and I will go in a different direction. I am leaving it up to the process and surrendering myself to the experience.

NOTE: I could see this being a great tool for an artist that’s experiencing creative block. It opens your mind and let’s creativity flow.

So, do you have to be an artist to do intuitive painting? Absolutely not! This painting style is something everyone can do. Yours may be more abstract. Maybe it’s shapes and colors. Maybe as you go along, the shapes come together and you see a figure or face evolve and you expand on that. Oh and the best part….if you try something and don’t like how it looks, simply paint over it!!

I’m telling you this is therapy. When painting in this way, you lose track of time. Your worries fade. The stress melts away and you’re in the moment. One with the canvas, paints and brushes. There really isn’t anything like it!

I hope you give it a try!

Blessings,

Teresa

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Here are the two resources I use to purchase brushes, paints and substrates:

Cheap Joes

Brushes: You don’t need any small brushes…this defeats the purpose. You need larger brushes so you can lay down a lot of paint and make big strokes.

Winsor & Newton Hog Bristle Brushes Round 10, Filbert 8 or 10, Flat 12 & 8

Painting Surfaces (there are so many options for canvases…my only suggestion is to purchase gallery wrapped so it doesn’t have to be framed)

Dick Blick

cradled boards

brushes Round 10, Filbert 8 or 10, Flat 12 & 8

canvases

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Here are photos showing the process of intuitive painting.

Layer 1 – Get that white canvas covered. Pick colors, any colors and start!

Here I started making shapes and adding lighter colors.

This was fun! I used Golden flow colors which are a thin consistency, then used a spray bottle and extra water on the brush to make the paint run. I also used my fingers and pulled the color down making lines at the top and bottom.