Intuition in Making Art

I'm often asked "Where do your ideas come from?".  There is always, to some degree or another, intuition involved.  Most people would do better work if they relied on it more.  I wish they would teach it in schools.  It has played such a huge role in my life, pointing me in directions that I would not have ventured into if I was ignoring it.  But has led to an amazing life that I am super grateful for.

Everybody has intuition.  We need to believe in it and let it happen.  I think it's really cool that we have this unique "thing" that helps us in the art making process.  A lot of times people get it beat out of them. They're taught not to rely on it and sometimes it's looked at as something bad.  But this "thing" called intuition really allows your artwork to get interesting and is the main way that your work can become truly original.

It's a matter of being open to intuition, knowing how to use it, how to trust it...that is the hardest thing.  You have to allow it to dictate certain decisions.  With my work, there is no way these pages would get to where they inspire people without that intuitive force flowing through me and spilling out.  How do find your own intuition?  Remember those times when you "just felt right" about something?  That is intuition.  It comes from your gut, NOT your mind.

Paul Rand quotes "It's all intuition, that's all there is".  I wouldn't say that it's only intuition, but it is perhaps intuition that allows the work to get to the next step, to a different level of connection.  Without it you are stuck at a level that might get the job done, but it is not going to be the stuff of people's loves and hates.  What we need to realize, is what the significance of intuition involves.  We have to open out to a larger vision of how the world works, how communication works, how our creativity works.  Intuition is a way of involving the do-er more in the process, as well as bringing in other basic things they have to be aware of, and are a part of themselves.

With everything, the more you do it, the more comfortable you are with it and the more it integrates into your life and makes you who you are.  It becomes second nature to use your intuition on every type of decision you make from what color to use on your page to the big life decisions.

The Journal is the best place to explore your intuition because it is your own private playground.  Create pages that are expressive...personal...intuitive...with no rules at all.  Trust the process so entirely that you aren't thinking about anything anymore.  You are creating blindly, allowing the colors and images you pick up to all make sense somehow.  If you can do this and get in the flow to where it is happening without you (your mind involved), you will be surprised at what you create.

Intuition is my crucial ingredient in my artwork.  Without it, the work feels flat and dull.  I always can instantly spot intuition in other artwork I see as well.  I think it's because I am so familiar with it that I see that spark...that "thing".  Connect with your intuitive self.  It is the best tool an artist can have!