Tag Archives: intuitive art

Finding clarity with hummingbird

Finding clarity is not always easy. I have wanted to be more clear about what I offer people to help them advance with their creativity.

One of the most valuable tools in seeking the next step on the journey is imagination. My mom said I always had a wild imagination, and I’m grateful for the gift! 🙂

How do you use your imagination to gain clarity?

I like to meditate and sometimes I go on a journey with my imagination.  Night dreams are possible guide posts to what is going on in your life, and through the gateway of imagination, you can re-enter the dream and get some answers.

On a journey into the unknown (or known however you see it) it is always great to bring a protector in the form of an animal. You would think bear or tiger or wolf would be the ones showing up, but I got a hummingbird leading the way.

For some reason I had complete confidence that this little bird could protect me if necessary. I don’t know if you’ve seen hummingbirds in action, but they are tough little warriors.

I read somewhere that hummingbirds evolved from a raptor in the time of the dinosaurs, but I’m not sure I believe that. Anyway…

Traveling with hummingbird, I went back into my night dream. I had missed an appointment with a man in a brown hat. I was in a room with my Mom and there was a sink that leaked. A full bucket of water sat under the sink and I wondered why no one had emptied it.

There was more to the dream, and the feeling was that I had screwed up somehow. The man in the hat had awakened me from a deep sleep.

I realized through my dream that I need to wake up and honor my “appointments.” Don’t miss important meetings due to sleep (unconscious behavior.) The water bucket was full and stagnant, and it was up to me to empty it.

Why wasn’t the leak fixed? No one cared enough to fix it.

Those were the major insights from the dream.

I have been at a crossroads for a while and it’s time to “empty the bucket.” Something new has to open up or I’ll be stuck (asleep) forever.

Dreams can tell you a lot of things, and so can art.

Intuitive art is often far from pretty, but it often holds many insights, just like dreams. In a way, they are both the same.

finding clarity with hummingbird
Honoring the hummingbird

Art = dream = imagination = creation.

To honor the hummingbird I painted this page, and a brown cow showed up as the gatekeeper to the unknown.

We have the power to create something new, something that is closer to the soul’s path.

I would have to say that spiritual experience is the closest to my heart, IS my heart. Art is something I DO, but it can have a deeper meaning, drawing me ever closer to Source.

There are so many variations of spiritual art, women’s empowerment, shamanistic art, religious art, but I don’t feel spirituality has to be labeled, and we don’t have to seek it through some path. We are already THERE.

The key is to recognize that fact and create that which makes us feel connected and feel GOOD in the moment.

Sometimes there are too many paths to follow. The mind says “do that, that artist is successful” or “try that style; it might be saleable.” “Follow the path of that shaman, they seem successful.”

The hardest part is to follow your own path. So much doubt and so many choices. They are all tricks by the mind.

Your heart is always true. Finding clarity in the heart is the purest form of clarity. However, when experiencing the heart there is no NEED to DO or make anything.

However, since we live in a 3D existence we have to move our bodies, so there might be a prompt, a glimpse of something intriguing to do that feels ignited with joy.  There is also a chance that everything will feel blah, but I call that a time of transition.

finding clarity with hummingbird
sheep standing on my head

I made another art journal spread where a sheep (or goat) showed up standing on my neck and obscuring my head.

Sheep are stubborn. Reading the message of this intuitive page, I saw that my image of clarity was obscuring real clarity. I had built the dang sheep as an excuse to not move forward.

But look at the heart that showed up under the belly of the sheep! It was moving into a lighter sense. I had the words Follow Your Heart cut out from a template I had made for another project. I never threw out the words, and they fit perfectly.

I say that all the time “follow your heart.” Well, it takes a lot of courage to follow your heart. Sheep and other stubborn folk may show up to stir up confusion.

They are only images of fear of change. You can’t blame the messenger…

I am more committed to exploring my inner landscape and making art from that. That might be the end of “pretty” art but the goal is to be more open to the mystery and see what happens.

How does that sound to you? Are you ready to delve more deeply into the mystery of you?

I’m going to blog more about it and you can subscribe to my blog or my newsletter (see upper right hand corner of this page to access both.) I wrote a recent blog post about Intuitive art versus Structured art.  

Maybe it will inspire you.

Lots of love, have a great weekend!

Maria

Intuitive art or structured art?

Intuitive art or structured art is a dilemma I struggle with often. Intuitive art is direct and it happens and evolves in the moment. One step of paint leads to another and it goes on until finished.

Structured art is planned out in every detail.

More often than not I don’t like what comes out in the end of an intuitive art session, but in art journaling, it’s okay to let it all hang out and not worry about “pretty.”

Lion's gate
intuitive art

As you can see above, I didn’t have much of a plan. I knew I wanted to make something around the eclipse today so I started with a large yellow circle and wove the rest from there. Is it pretty? I’d say not, but it feels good to me.

Intuitive art is led by feeling rather than a thought-out plan. It can be scary, but many worthwhile things are.

abstract art journaling
intuitive art

Above is another example of intuitive art. It’s raw and direct.

art journaling
intuitive art

The above page is more structured since I put some thought into the combination of the background papers. As you will see in the following picture, the two have similar backgrounds and that was to tie the pages together.

art journaling
structured art

This page I planned out. I knew I wanted to make an angel, but I wasn’t sure how she would evolve. I chose papers that added interest to the background.

I’d say that page is inspired by all the other pages people are making and posting online and offering in how-to videos. It was fun to make, but not very original.

doodle mania
structured art

The face was planned and the doodles happened along the way. It was fun and it felt original, not like a copy.

One artist I admire is Tamara LaPorte of Willowing Art. Her art journaling is beautiful and very structured. I have to say it bores me to copy in the long run. I just don’t have the patience. Do you? I still admire her art, but it’s not my cup of tea as they say.

portrait
structured
face
structured art

portraitThe pages may be pretty but they don’t speak to me in the long run. They are satisfying to paint, but…  After leafing through a bunch of my art journals I have to say 90% of them are filled with intutive art.

Intuitive art can be very frustrating, but also offer a window into my life.

art journaling

So when all is said and done, follow your own star!

I have a lot of how-to videos on my YouTube channel if you’re interested in the intuitive art process. You can browse HERE.

I have a blog post about living in the Now and creating art. The Moment Of Now.

Check them out and have a great creative week!

xo

Maria

P.S. My etsy shop EARTH AND FAERY is filled to the brim with magical and colorful things. Gift ideas anyone?

What if you were an expert painter today?

What if? Do you believe that you, as of right now, could be an expert painter, no experience needed? I didn’t think so, but I know for sure there is an artist inside of every human being, as there is perfect life in every tree and plant.

Life itself is an artist, but the question is how to access that perfection. It’s hard with our harsh self critic ruling the roost and because of society’s harsh judgment of art in general.

The famous painters are famous because they broke rules (not counting the artists of the Renaissance since they wrote the rules, haha.) Hard to compare yourself to Rembrandt and Michelangelo…

However, what if you just let yourself play?? Just to see what would happen when you put brush to paper or canvas.

Without expectations.

Without goal in mind.

Without agenda and work in the moment.

Without a sketch or plan? You know it’s possible because there are lots of abstract artists out there. Some you like and some you don’t but it’s irrelevant.

I have been painting like that for some time, and I’m not alone. A whole revolution of painters working on instinct alone and following their desires in the moment are taking the art world by storm.

intuitive art
What if…

Some of the art is beautiful, some not, but again, judgment is not needed. How does the energy speak to you? That is what touches us when we look at art. What do you receive?

intuitive art
What if….?

If it touches that place of recognition inside of us, we feel that the art is perfect, no matter what the subject matter, if any.

I find it very liberating to paint this way. It’s not exactly pretty or awesome, but it makes me happy. Maybe someone feels happy when they look at my art? That is not something I worry about, however.

The process is to pick a color you want to use and start painting. It could be swaths of colors, lines, doodles, symbols like birds and sun or dots. What would you paint if you weren’t afraid to start? Or if it didn’t matter what colors you picked? Maybe they look horrible together, but you wanted to use them.

Every time you get stuck painting ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t afraid of messing it up. Mess it up!

Be bold.

intuitive art
What if…?

The above painting is weird and I have no clue where it’s going. I know it’s not finished even though I covered the entire canvas with paint. What I’ll do is ask myself, what would feel good to add.

Without pressure or aim.

This is freedom in painting! If you haven’t tried it, I guarantee that you have something inside that wants to come out and paint. It is basically a life changing experience as we move past the “what ifs, ” and the “shoulds.”

Open up your life and paint!

Have a great, creative weekend.

xo

Maria

P.S. I have some new things in etsy shop this week. Unique gifts for the artsy kind. EARTH AND FAERY.

Paint by numbers or…?

Painting by numbers used to be really popular back in the day, and some of them didn’t look too shabby, but I never took to the practice.

I was googling pictures and discovered that you can still buy the kits. I don’t know why I never tried, but it was like coloring books. Coloring books are safe and easy.  Nothing wrong with the meditative process, but where is the excitement of creative adventure?  Too safe for me.

paint by numbers
paint by numbers

I used to knit and had to follow a pattern to get the desired look, but what if I had gone crazy with yarn and colors and created sweaters that looked like dirty paint palettes?

It would have been more interesting for sure.  I might have started a trend!

paint palette
dirty palette

Everything I’ve ever learned about evolving my painting practice is by experimentation. I took some classes in realistic painting and learned some techniques that are helpful, but they never challenge me as much as the act of facing a blank canvas and not knowing what to paint. The act of painting itself is not something I fear, but to put that first dot of paint on the canvas can be daunting. This is intuitive painting.

I face that resistance with every painting  The only way to get around it is to allow the resistance to be there and paint anyway. It’s useless to fight it. Nowadays it sits in a corner and grumbles until something exciting emerges on the canvas and then it’s on board with the rush of creativity.  Contrary bugger …

What I do now is to quickly pick some colors I like and start applying them and see what strikes me.  Sometimes nothing, and sometimes I see possibilities immediately.

It’s like being on a ship. There is ocean and more ocean, and no hope of ever seeing land again until suddenly, a gray shape emerges on the horizon.

So, if you have experienced that, you know there is hope. 🙂 The only way to move forward and through the resistance of creation, is to do it. Start right there and don’t stop, because if you do, the sniggers of resistance will haunt you for the rest of the day.

A seasoned sea man knows to face forward across the ocean and knows it’s only a matter of time until land appears.

I invite you to the adventure. Put the paint by numbers kit aside and give your creative genius a chance to shine. It does exist.

xo

Maria

P.S. I have a FREE art journaling year-long adventure happening in 2017. If you want to sign up for the monthly prompts, go HERE.

You can also join my Facebook group which is filled with happy creative people, HERE.

Ugly is ok! micro workshop

I already posted back in the fall of ’15 about painting ugly. Here are some more thoughts about that.

If you’re like me, art holds certain standards for us. We try so many methods and techniques; we compare ourselves to others. Some styles we like some we don’t. It’s hard to know which style suits you the best.

Have you ever tried just being yourself as you approach art? Forget about the rules and be free, like kids fearlessly showing up at the empty page. Paint outside the box! To reach the true core of who we are involves a lot of unlearning or ignoring what we know. Unlearning is deeply satisfying, yet it can be hard to let go and allow the art to be what it wants to be.

Like you I make a decent painting and art journal spreads, and I’m proud and happy about the results. When it comes to spontaneity however, it can be very frustrating since we’re always striving for results.

My aim for this FREE micro workshop is to give you space to be yourself, to wait and see what will come onto the page without you pushing anything.

What I get from this kind of art is a sense of Self. I can actually recognize my own energy in the art. It has a very intimate feel to it, and I find it addictive to paint in this way. I also receive sudden insights and messages about the state I’m in at the time of painting. This particular spread in the video turned out happy, and it’s a state I’m in a lot, but others that I’ve done are dark and dreary. The tendency is to rip out those kinds of pages, but to honor myself, I also have to honor my darker, more destructive side. Usually, I don’t like showing those pages to people. They are basic and pretty ugly. It’s like trying anything new and unknown, you just have to immerse yourself in it to find out the truth about it.

DSCN2032
in the shadows “Uglee”

I invite you to explore.

I invite you to leave all your knowledge at the door and explore you inner self.

I invite you to paint “ugly,” unfettered like a child.

I invite you to meet your inner self without fear.

I invite you to sit through the discomfort.

I invite you to break through to the “fire.”

Are you willing to take this trip with me?

All you need is an art journal page, or a watercolor sheet, or even a canvas. Whatever you have on hand, and you need some paint, brushes, and markers. That is all. You can even use colored pencils, pencils, ballpoint pens, and oil pastels. There are no rules.

If you want to share your work, please join my Facebook group. HERE.

I need to point out that your art will be completely different from mine! The video will show the process I go through and you’ll get an idea how to go about it.  And then you can make your own art spread. YES!

Access the FREE micro workshop Ugly is Ok! HERE.

I also did an Ugly is Ok! 2 a month later.  To view, click HERE.

Now go and paint something ugly! 🙂

xo

Maria