Child's play

Now that I've got my painting supplies and everything out of my house and into my studio downtown I'm finding the strongest urge to paint when I'm home! I make an effort to paint in the studio at least 3 or 4 times a week but being the contrary Gemini that I am I want to paint at night before bedtime or early in the morning before leaving for work. After a couple weeks of this internal conflict I decided to bring some supplies home and give into my urge. My goal was to paint with abandon and stop thinking so hard about painting something concrete -- simply paint what I feel.

So....I reached for the first color that grabbed me fron my limited paint choices and squeezed a big juicy blob lime green onto my plastic plate palette. Brushed the color on then lightened it with some gesso. Grabbed another tube of paint and repeated the action. I was working fast and decided I needed to make more than one piece at a time so brought out another piece of paper and two small canvasses. Over the span of the evening I finished 4 pieces of art that I actually liked and thoroughly enjoyed making! This time it was the process -- not a preconceived picture in my mind that determined the finished product.

This is what intuitive painting is all about. It's going with your gut and grabbing the first thing that catches your eye. It's working fast without thinking. It's abandoning the rules and letting your inner muse out to play. It's like going back to kindergarten and announcing to the world that you're an artist and getting that confirmation when you proudly hand your masterpiece to your Mom & Dad who rush to stick it on the refrigerator for the rest of the family to stand around and agree to your declaration. It's standing back when you're finished painting and feeling a sense of completion and joy that you didn't let your inner critic come out and squash your artisitic spirits like a bug.