What is intuition in Art?

I recently had a student send me a picture of a painting and asked me to critique it. I asked her for the backstory so I’d understand where we were going with this. She said there’s no backstory, just critique the painting. I said I don’t believe I can critique it unless I know what you’re trying to say. She said nothing, just critiqued this painting, and so I did.

I told her I didn’t understand a bit of what she’d painted, and if it was an abstract, perhaps I got it, but it was a weak abstract at Best. She then told me that she had taken a course called "Intuition for Painters"-painting from intuition, letting your spirit fly and paint what’s inside of you.

She sent me a horrible painting, and then proceeded to send me three other horrible paintings that she did and said she was completely frustrated as nothing came out of her rubbish. I chuckled a little, and then I explained to her that intuition comes from experience, and if you don’t have a lot of experience, you’re not gonna have any intuition.

It would be like if you’ve never played tennis before, taking a tennis lesson, and the instructor says just hit the ball back to me, use your intuition. I believe the next thing you’d probably do is get a new tennis instructor. As you had no lessons to glean from, there’s no way you could use intuition to help you.

So what is intuition? Then let’s dip our toe in the water, and this is the best way I can. In photography, they say the minute you push the shutter button, you’re already too late. If you’re looking for it, it’s probably already gone. The same thing goes for painting. When inspiration hits, you must do what it’s telling you right now.

Intuition is born out of experience, and experience is born out of failure. Experience takes time to accumulate. You must live through enough of it for intuition to begin working in your favour.*

So back to the beginning — when that quiet voice says, “Put some purple in those trees,” you must listen.

The muse is a fleeting flower. She throws you a line, then pulls it back faster than you can catch it. But if you can see the line, you can catch it. She’ll only throw it so many times, too. Ignore her often enough, and eventually she stops throwing it altogether.

Another thing that can help build your intuitive flow is surrounding yourself with as much good art as you can. Looking at other artists’ work can help hone your intuition. It’s less about copying solutions and more about training your eye to recognize relationships before your mind can fully explain them. When you spend serious time with paintings, drawings, films, music, or photography, you begin absorbing patterns subconsciously:

Push the shutter button quicker than you think. Paint faster than you’re comfortable with. Keep the right brain chasing the left brain. If you don’t, you end up mired in slow, sloth-like painting that leads only to self- deprecation.

Trust your instincts. They won’t always be right — but the more you use them, the more right they become

Shhhh, put some purple in your trees.

Keep those brushes swinging.

Your friend in art,

Doug.