6 Amazing Facts About Intuitive Art

Intuitive art is unlike other types of art where you may need a reference or a specific idea to guide you. Intuitive art is the exact opposite. You create art by expressing your emotions visually using your instincts and subconscious feelings.

It is about enjoying the creative process without any expectations for the artwork’s result. And it helps to live the moments with whatever emotions you are having at that time.

Just let the emotions emerge naturally and let the inspiration come to you organically. Try not to control it visually and let your emotions and feelings lead the entire process.

Your intuitive art is a reflection of your current inner feelings and thoughts. In this type of art, the process itself of making your art is more important than the result. Just trust your emotions and go along with them without any judgements on yourself.

All you need is an open mind and realise that there is no right or wrong in making your art. There is no time limit and you are totally free to do what feels good for you.

You do not need to rush yourself, just enjoy a new experience. Give yourself time to develop a relationship with the process of making your art. it is very therapeutic and great fun to make.

Some of the topics I will cover in this article include:

• What is intuitive art?
• Amazing facts about intuitive art.
• How do you make intuitive art?
• Intuitive art exercise.

I would like to re-emphasise that the process of intuitive art is accessible to everyone. It is a remarkable way to learn and grow.

I’m aware that some people may feel art-making is a major obstacle in their lives. Because something somewhere along the way shut them down to it.

Once they overcome such obstacles, then they could become open to all the benefits of intuitive art. As well as the benefits of having a meditative and self-reflective practice.

Note that intuitive art is different from creating art intuitively.

What is intuitive art?

Intuitive art is making art about how you feel. It has no reference to any object from the real world. It is, in a way, a meditative mindfulness practice using art. Through practice, you are connecting with your inner self and expressing your true emotions and feelings at that moment.

This process is different from the way we do most things in our lives, which is goal oriented. The beauty of the exercise is that there is no goal about the artistic outcome of the art you are making. And that’s why it is for everyone.

The goal here is to make something that resonates with how you feel in this moment. The process itself helps you to move that energy out of you. That’s a big part of the transformation that happens.

It is a fantastic meditative practice of taking what’s inside of you and putting it out onto a piece of paper in a way that you are unattached to the result that’s going to come through.

It is a journey of spontaneous self-expression and self-discovery. You enter a new exciting, perhaps, unknown territory about yourself. I don’t think there is a more exciting journey.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), was a famous artist who was well-known for painting enlarged flowers. In one of her quotes, she said that she created an equivalent for what she felt about what she was looking at, not a copy of it.

I think that explains the meaning of intuitive art. I also wrote another article, Painting Your Feelings, which you may find interesting.

However, let me explain that intuitive art is different from art that relies on intuition. It is a practice without the intent of artistic outcome. It is not about creating art.

For example, Georgia O’Keeffe was a professional artist. She did not create intuitive art in the same sense of direction as this article. She, in a way, relied on her intuition to create art.

Artists who rely on their intuition to create art are also knowledgeable and experienced in things such as the elements of art, principles and compositions among so many other technical art concepts.

Amazing facts about intuitive art

# 1         Connecting with your intuition

Intuitive art is all about connecting yourself with your intuition. It is a fun and enjoyable process. It is a great way to self-discovery. But it needs you to slow down and take a fearless approach to make the process.

When you get involved in the process, you are placing yourself in an environment that is free from evaluation or comparison from others. You are in unchartered territory.

You are on a fantastic journey. This journey is personal. It is about your inner self and your life. Making intuitive art helps you to find your story. A story about where you are in this moment, in this space and time.

No one knows your intuition. No one knows but you about where you are. No one can tell you if it’s right or wrong. Nobody but your intuition.

Connecting with your intuition helps you to find out who you are and your own values.

It helps you feel increasingly solid inside and trust yourself. Feeling that you are in possession of some of the ultimate truths about yourself. It could guide you to be much more original in your thinking.

It helps you to get rid of negative emotions, which cause nervous system chaos. While positive emotions align the nervous system. We make better choices for our lives and our health when we come from a positive emotional space.

Did you know that we have on average about 70,000 thoughts in a single day? Did you also know that 80% of them are negative towards ourselves or somebody else?

We all know that negative emotions may lead to heart disease. But, what about positive emotions? Can positive emotions help to improve the integrity of our hearts and arteries?

The simple answer is yes, according to research published by The American Journal of Cardiology in 2013.

Connecting with your intuition is a great way to learn how to know and befriend who you really are.

# 2         Letting go

Anyone can make intuitive art. It’s all about releasing and letting go of control and releasing the fear of being judged. Because in this way, there are no rules and there is nothing that can be said to be wrong or right.

When you make intuitive art, you are making it in a space on the right side of your brain. So you are switching off the analytical logical aspects of the left side of your brain. You are stepping into the creative and imaginative magical space of your brain on the right side of the brain.

And it is here where you have freedom, patience and acceptance for what you are making. There is a mystery about it. There is magic about being in the right side of your brain.

Letting go helps you to overcome harsh inner self-critic, become more patient and tolerant and compassionate.

Letting go of all fear, anger, sadness and guilt feelings. Letting go of the feeling of unworthiness.

Naturally, we often want to avoid the feeling that we do not really like. And what happens when we push down an emotion because we do not want to deal with it at that moment, it comes back up at a different time.

Letting go helps you to feel free. The more you simplify your life and let go, the more free you would feel.

It’s also important to check in with yourself to check out what you are actually carrying with you. We all carry this invisible bag with us in life when we put things in it. Or maybe other people put a lot of expectations in it.

We do not seem to stop and think. Why is it so heavy? How can I lighten this load?

Letting go can make you unstoppable. It can create the best change for you.

# 3         Free flowing energy

“Everything is energy” – Albert Einstein.

When you step into this space, you are relinquishing all aspects of your thought process and control. You are stepping into that free-flowing energy space where you tap into your intuition and begin in a meditation type of space.

You are really connecting with your innermost self. So this space is where unconditional freedom of self-expression is. When you create your intuitive art with this freedom, you have set the stage to let it flow out of you.

In creating your intuitive art, you do not need to think about choosing your art tools or colours. You just let it intuitively flow and select whatever is there in front of you. Just continue to create with what you have. This way, you can keep connecting with your inner self and your artwork without interruption.

It is a meditative process and it may seem difficult at first. Give yourself time and a chance and eventually, it will start to make you feel better.

It starts with you wanting to feel better. So, short-circuit those negative thoughts and allow yourself to bring in positive thoughts. As you go through the process, focus your mind on positive emotions.

Feel positive about yourself.

The act of making intuitive art touches and stirs your mental, emotional and spiritual energies.

Intuitive painting or drawing is an effective way of visual expression. Expressing our thoughts and feelings is always a great way of releasing that energy, positive or negative.

Letting our energy out, positive or negative, makes us feel good about ourselves. But it will need replacement. This is always an excellent time to recharge ourselves with positive thinking, positive feelings and positive energy.

# 4         Healing and meditation

Intuitive art practices help you to reset and let go of whatever kind of stressful and distracting thoughts are going on in your life. Just sift through all of that and get a clearer state of mind. Find out what’s going on at your core spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

You can also go at your own pace with this exercise and draw or paint whatever you want and whatever you feel. Just go with the flow whatever feels right to you and makes you feel good. Listen to your inner self and go through it on your own level.

It is such a great way to find a sense of peace and a little bit more clarity of mind with some more awareness about where you are at mentally and emotionally. It could help you to find out what you need to do next in your day to feel at peace, productive and happy.

One important key for this particular step of healing and meditation is to relax your mind. Easily said than done, you might say. How do I relax my mind?

As much as I thought about describing the method of relaxing your mind, I realised I may not be able to provide a clear explanation. I found this video Meditation for Artists – The Automatic Drawing Technique by Tim Gula. Tim, not only shows how to relax your mind, but he also demonstrates the process simply and interestingly.

The video is not necessarily aimed at artists only. I’m sure others will find it very useful.

Allow yourself time to relax and enjoy the process and transform past unhealthful habits, patterns, self-doubts and self-limiting beliefs.

Any meditation practice could help to guide you to take better care of your mind and soul.

# 5         Enhance self-awareness

What is self-awareness? The simple answer is to make the unconscious conscious. You need to recognise exactly what is making you feel positive and good, or feeling the other way around.

Self-awareness is closely linked with positive energy, explained above in # 3. Self-awareness is another amazing process which helps you to connect even further with your inner self.

There are several ways that you could practice to enhance self-awareness and consciousness. I will mention just some of them here:

• Self-talk. Pay attention to the words you use when you talk to yourself or about yourself. Are you using positive or negative words and phrases?

Let me explain this with a great example. Tony Robbins interviewed Nelson Mandela and asked him how he survived 27 years in prison. Nelson Mandela wasn’t happy and he responded: “I didn’t survive, I prepared”.

This is a great example of the power of words and the positive energy of those words!

Your intuitive art practice is a kind of preparation of not just self-awareness, but also an effective way to replace negative energy with positive. And it allows you to become more conscious of your subconscious inner thoughts.

Your words reflect your thoughts and reflect who you are. Choose your words wisely.

• Focus. What we focus on is what we think about. If you focus on what you don’t want, you could get more of what you don’t want.

But if you shift your focus, you shift your perspective, you change how you interact with it and you change your results.

• Purpose. Your purpose in your life is as unique as you are. What is your purpose? Nobody can tell you your purpose in life, except you.

Without a purpose, many of us live life aimlessly.

# 6         Effective stress relief

There are several studies where researchers found that intuitive art-making, regardless of skill, can actually help to reduce stress.

Other benefits from intuitive art-making include increased focus and concentration, the ability to problem-solve and increased critical-thinking skills.

These are all things that are easily transferable into so many different areas of our lives.

I left this topic to last for a simple reason. Once you go through all the previous steps above, you would eventually find the act of making intuitive art to be an effective stress relief.

It may or may not happen in one or two sessions. By repeating the same process again and again, you would begin to feel its benefits.

How to make intuitive art?

How do I make intuitive art?

How do I start intuitive painting or drawing?

What materials do I need to make intuitive art?

I’m sure you could have so many questions in your mind before making a start.

There are no specific art materials you need. You can use whatever you have. Pencils, colour pencils or watercolours and a piece of paper. If you have or prefer to use a canvas, that is absolutely fine. Choose your art tools and colours based on how you feel without thinking too much about it.

I prefer to use a sketchbook. I always enjoy looking back at some of my sketchbook paintings and, perhaps, re-live those moments again. I usually date all my paintings including those in my sketchbook.

You may say “I can’t make art, because I’m not an artist” or “I’m not artistic enough”. Intuitive art is not about creating a piece of art. It’s more about letting go.

The process allows us the freedom to draw, paint or create any artwork instinctively. Remember, there is no thought process involved.

The most important part of creating intuitive art is that you do not expect anything artistic as the outcome of this exercise. Do not expect the result to be about something.

Just let yourself flow out of you and trust your intuition. Approach your art without any preconceived ideas of the result of your artwork.

Children are masters of making intuitive paintings and drawings. And most of us seem to be so removed from that joy and fun when we grow up.

Something else that you might find very useful for this exercise. Play your favourite music, because:

• Music has a profound impact on our moods.
• Music is a great way to reduce distraction and helps your focus.

You might be interested in another article I wrote about painting with music.

Intuitive art exercise

Try the following steps:

Step 1: Preparation

Gather everything you need before you start. Organising everything beforehand will help you to maintain your focus on your creative process without interruptions.

It will help you to continue your art without a thought process. Everything you need is immediately available to you.

And let’s not forget a cup of coffee, too.

Step 2: Letting go

The second step is to let go. Letting go of any thoughts of creating a piece of artistic art. Letting go of what you think art is supposed to be about. It is not about making beautiful artwork or something to put in a museum or an art gallery.

Just allow yourself to freely put a pencil or paintbrush on paper and start drawing, painting or even doodling. Turn your focus on your inner self.

Step 3: Follow your intuition

Feel and follow your intuition. What do you feel in this moment? Put that down with a pencil mark or a brushstroke of any colour and follow that further.

Where does it want to go? What do you feel inspired by? What do you feel curious about? Just trust your intuition without thinking about it.

You are not in control and you do not want to be in control.

Step 4:  Visual connection

You are now building a visual connection with your art. Listen to yourself and your art. Listen to your emotional response. If you feel you want to add more marks, lines, brushstrokes or more colours, just follow it through without hesitation.

Let yourself just do what feels good in this place and then see how it starts to translate in other places in your life, too. There is no criticism and there is no fear. Keep going.

Step 5: Trust yourself

Enjoy and trust yourself when you are on your intuitive art journey. Trust that whatever mark or brushstroke you are making is the right thing for that moment. Trust that you can make great lines, shapes or colours on your piece of paper.

It is your journey deep inside. There is no right or wrong. Remember, these are just tools to take you from one place to another. Trust your choice and how you feel.

Step 6:  Trust your decision

Once you have done all of the above steps, now you can decide where you want to go with it. Maybe you decide you are happy here and what you have done. Or maybe you see or feel you still need to continue in your journey deeper inside.

Again, trust yourself in this decision moment, too.

Final thoughts about intuitive art

In this article, intuitive art refers to the process itself irrespective of the artistic result. It is different from creating art intuitively. It is also different from abstract art. The difference is the intention of creating a piece of art.

It helps to reclaim your freedom of expression, your peace and your joy of those little precious moments in life. Many people use the process as a habit just to unwind and de-stress.

It is also used in art therapy as a healing journey to help those who could be affected by adverse experiences. It can make you feel self-nourished.

It helps people to learn deeper about themselves and about the place where they are in the moment.  Learning how to let go of control. Something we all could use and find a simple, effective way to self-expression.

There are no techniques or rules. It’s a simple practice and you cannot do it wrong…

I hope you will try intuitive art if you need it. And I would be very happy if you come back and let me know all about your experience in the section below. Let me know if you were able to let go of control, and perfectionism and enjoy the moments of creating your intuitive art.