Entries Tagged as: intuition
Day 30: Bird in the Woods
November 30th, 2011, Comments (13)
Day 30! Woohoo! I'm proud of myself for getting through this month and I hope you all are feeling good about what you've accomplished.
I started to feel like my paintings were starting to tell a story recently. Perhaps if I put them all together, I'll be able to see what the narrative is.
Tomorrow I'll have a check-in for the Creative Every Day Challenge to carry us through til Monday, when I'll resume the regular weekly check-ins.
Congrats to all the Art Every Day Month participants. You all rock!
Day 27: Mermaid Night
November 27th, 2011, Comments (12)
Sometimes, when working intuitively, I like to crop the page to a size that suits what I end up working on, which is part of why I like working on paper. It allows for easy cropping! This piece is an example of that. I liked the way the mermaid looked in a long strip instead of the wider page that I used.
Day 18: Mother Moon
November 18th, 2011, Comments (15)
Another intuitive piece tonight. Someone asked about the process I'm using with these pieces lately. I usually wet the watercolor paper, then drip fluid acrylic and/or inks onto the page, letting the paint spread and moving it around a bit while the paint is still wet. I sometimes sprinkle some sea salt on top of the wet paint, which creates some interesting textures. I let the paint dry, and let it alone for awhile. Later, I come back, turning the page, looking for images in it. I thought this one was going to be some kind of landscape, but when I went to work on it, I saw a distinct face I couldn't ignore! So, I went with that and one thing led to the next!
Day 17: Lady Fall
November 17th, 2011, Comments (28)
Finished this up a little late tonight, but I like the way it came out. Feels very dream like. I started it early in the morning with acrylic paint on watercolor paper and a bit of salt sprinkled on it. Then came back with some more paint and ink in the evening, bringing out the shape of a woman and trees that I saw there.
Day 15: Mermaid and the Moon Necklace
November 15th, 2011, Comments (22)
Today, I created intuitively. I started the piece early in the morning, letting some ink and paint drip on wet watercolor paper while the hubster held Annabelle. After I put her down for a nap, I came back and played. And during a second nap I played some more. This is what came out. Somehow the moon has become the first piece in a necklace of underwater pearls.
Day 6 – Emily and the Deer
November 6th, 2011, Comments (22)
A quick drawing today, using some new brush pens I picked up. I had no plans, just started to draw and the deer came. I seem to be connecting with deer lately. I'll have to look them up in my Animal Speak book!
I hope you had a beautifully creative weekend!
Day 4: Lantern Spill
November 4th, 2011, Comments (34)
A big thank you to Annabelle for taking her longest nap ever, allowing her mommy to paint away in the morning! She also had her best night of sleep ever. May this be the beginning of a beautiful trend!
This piece was created intuitively. I let the ink spread first, looked for the image, and this is what I saw in it. A woman holding a lantern with the light spilling out of it like an ocean wave.
Talking to Trees
November 3rd, 2011, Comments (11)
Today I managed to start a piece, while holding Annabelle. Talk about multi-tasking! I held her, while wetting a piece of paper and dropping some ink and paint on the page. Later, while she napped, I came back to the page, looked for what I saw in the ink/paint droppings and started an intuitive drawing.
What came was a woman, speaking in tree language, while resting on the moon. Again, I think I'm working off my night-time nursing!
I'll be honest and say that I'm struggling a bit to keep up with art-making, running the challenge, keeping up with emails, and taking care of Annabelle, while being sleep-deprived. Today, I got whopped with a monster-migraine. I need to find more ways to take my own advice and make it doable for me, so I don't crash and burn! At the same time, this is good experience in finding ways to make it work, make it manageable and keep on creating. And I'm grateful for the push.
In other news, my 2012 Calendar is now ready for pre-order! This year I'm filling the calendar with twelve of my favorite pieces. If you're interested, please order by 11/20 to guarantee holiday delivery. As a special bonus, if you order by 11/20, I'll add a drawing to your birthday (or the birthday of your recipient) in the calendar. You can purchase the calendar here.
Being BIG, a Guest Post by Jennifer Lee
May 20th, 2011, Comments (6)
“Be BIG!” my high school speech coach used to say to me as I practiced my dramatic interpretation pieces for competition. He’d encourage me to take a wider stance, project my naturally quiet voice, and stand up straight. Those were great tips for delivering a more convincing and engaging speech, but I think what he was really trying to teach me all those years ago was to have confidence in myself and to own my own power.
Being BIG, taking up space, and being seen can be very vulnerable and scary.
When I first started intuitive painting, I only painted on single sheets of paper. Until one day, I saw an image emerge above my sheet of paper and I needed to add another page to paint it. Over the course of several months, the painting grew to three sheets, then six, and ultimately to 18 sheets to create a wall-sized, crazy painting. Each time I realized that the painting needed more space, I would call my painting teacher Chris over and I’d then proceed to whine, pout, or stall… whatever I could do to resist letting the painting get bigger because it made me very uncomfortable.
I felt bad if other students in the studio had to move their stations because my painting was too big, I felt like a burden if I had to ask other people to help me add more paper or pin this unwieldy monstrosity to the wall, and I felt like I was being super obnoxious for having a painting that was so in-your-face ginormous (like, um who does she think she is?!). And mostly, I was shocked that I had so much bigness in me. But to see it spread out in front of me in bright, bold colors, I couldn’t hide from it.
Obviously this was my learning edge because every intuitive painting I’ve done since then has been huge. In fact, now it is part of my process to paint big. I love the feeling of being in front of a wall and moving my paint brush all the way across it, adding in color and shapes with abandon, and letting my whole body get into the experience. I get to stretch myself literally and figuratively. It’s freeing, wildly expressive, and oh-so satisfying.
I even realized that I love that feeling of standing up and moving things around a big wall so much that now I do my planning that way. In my office I have an entire wall dedicated to a huge calendar. I stand in front of it and write my goals and to-dos on sticky notes and it helps me connect with my big vision.
Let the big theme remind you that when you allow yourself to be big and take up space you’re honoring all of who you really are!
Jennifer Lee, the founder of Artizen Coaching and author of The Right-Brain Business Plan, spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder before pursuing her creative dreams. Through her courses, coaching, products, and writing, she empowers others to follow their passions.
Heart Strings on the Water
February 23rd, 2011, Comments (18)
This was fun. I decided to start painting intuitively with Passion in mind. I chose colors and music to listen to with this in mind. I started simply painting in a passionate manner. Then I stepped away to let it dry and came back later in the day. The bit of yellow in the center of a red/blue landscape, made me think of a heart at sea, so I painted in the boat around it. A larger bright spot made me think of the moon, so I made that more clear. I played with the waves and sky and eventually saw a whale beneath the surface.
I think the red string has something to do with heart strings and an umbilical cord, blood lines and life. Whales are always loaded with symbolism for me, so I'm not surprised to see one pop up here.
I enjoyed painting with passion in mind! And I look forward to seeing more of your passionate creations!
