"Paintings With Personality"

This is titled "Cheerleaders". It is on 22x30 inch, 140 pound Arches watercolor paper. I painted it after seeing a carnival parade in St Thomas. The warmth, the sun, the music and dancing were all instrumental in creating this work.

Honey went fishing the other day, his first time out this season. He caught a BIG trout, it was 4.7 pounds and 22 inches long. Think of a newborn baby and you will get an idea of the size. I couldn’t cook the fish that night and was going to dinner with friends the next night, so I suggested he cook the fish himself. Honey doesn’t cook, but how hard is it to put a fish in the oven??? When I got home after my dinner out, the house smelled terrible. Of course I asked Honey about the stench. All he would say was that he had burned the fish, nothing more. Later, when I talked to my dad, he wanted to know what had happened (my dad is a great cook). It turns out, Honey forgot about the fish and left it in the oven so long it actually caught fire. The oven had to be cleaned and my pan was ruined! It’s OK, everything is fine, and he didn’t burn the house down. Let’s just say, he isn’t a naturally intuitive cook.

On the other hand, artists in all art forms need to be able to work intuitively. (In this post I’m going to refer to painting, although working intuitively applies to every art form). No amount of technical perfection will make a great work of art, it must also have imagination and passion. As an artist, you must learn to work intuitively just as you work at learning a technique.

Intuitive painting doesn’t mean painting with your intuition, in intuitive painting, you have no end product in mind, no plan. You fully and completely express yourself and the journey is all that matters. The practice of painting intuitively will get rid of any creative blocks, help you let go of control and gain the courage to face not only art challenges, but also the challenges in your daily life. It is a way of learning that will release hidden things deep down inside you and your work will begin to have true genius.

What you learn in intuitive painting is more important than technique and what you will gain goes much deeper. You have all taken classes or workshops that I call “paint alongs.” Everyone is painting the same thing. First the instructor paints a little and then the students paint the same thing, copying the instructor. There is nothing intuitive about it and everyone ends up with the exact same painting. You may have learned a few new techniques, but the work is not your own. There is nothing unique about your art when you copy another person’s style. Give up control and perfectionism and try painting intuitively. Move through fear and boredom into adventure.

Painting with an end result in mind can certainly be enjoyable and gratifying. Painting intuitively is exciting, roomy and fun. Combining the two, intuitive painting and technique, is magical and will make you whole.

Next Monday, I’m going to list 6 ways to begin creating intuitive art.

Please leave your comments below.   Later, Judy

www.judyballance.com