Hello oh creative friend! :)

Intuition can be an elusive thing to some, including myself! I've always struggled to go by my gut feelings. I've always relied more on my head/ thinking than my intuition, but in the last couple of years I've tried to get more in touch with my intuition & instincts. It's a wonderful feeling when one can get in touch with that part of ourselves that seems to have a 'deeper knowing', I dare say: our intuition is often wiser than our minds! That said, I'm not trying to knock the mind, it's been my friend for many many years! I'd love to be more in touch with my intuition too though. :)

For the lesson today I encourage all of you to listen to your intuition and respond to your gut instincts when creating your piece of art. I had a wonderful time just asking myself: 'what wants to happen next' and then intuitively responding to my page, to my supplies. It was a very liberating and freeing experience! I hope you love doing it too! :)

Supplies Used Today

• 9 x 12” Watercolour Paper – Hot Pressed– 140lbs (I use Daler Rowney The Langton) (or equivalent paper, a minimum of 140lbs)

• Water-soluble Crayons (Caran D'ache)• Collage Papers• Markers (water-soluble and non water soluble)• Acrylics paints• White gesso• Transparent gesso• Brayer• Paint markers (like posca pens)• Old card for scraping• Palette knife• Rubber stamps• Stencils• Ink sprays

If you've watched my introduction, you'll have heard me explain that today is all about you doing what feels good to you. So even though I've listed my supplies and I will now go over the steps I created, you may want to use completely different supplies and you may want to take very different steps. It's all up to you and your intuition! :) So remember: it's not about doing my all my steps the way I did them, it all about doing what you feel like doing! :)

To begin: take a moment to become still, ground and to become aware of any feelings or sensations in your body. Take deep breaths and start to focus your attention on your body & emotions. Notice any feelings inside your body either emotional or physical, they could be happy/ sad/ light/ dark , you might notice discomfort or pain or contentment and joy etc. Try not to judge the feelings and sensations – simply notice them and be with them. Just acknowledging what is, right now.

Though this lesson is all about intuition, when it came to choosing colours, I did decide for myself on some colours beforehand instead of choosing them intuitively. This because I didn't want to end up with colour combinations that could end up muddy. But if you want to work with your colours intuitively you can do that too no problem!

Here are some colour palette ideas that you can take or leave:

Suggested colour palette options:

Magenta/ teal/ yellow (bright orange)

Olive green, dark purple, bright orange)

Red, pink, orange and yellow

Now follows a series of techniques I chose intuitively while painting, again: you do not have to follow these steps/ techniques, in fact: I encourage you to listen to your own intuition and follow it closely. :)

Remember to lay out a variety of different materials/ supplies within arms reach so you can easily grab them if the need arises.

My steps

1. I started with collage

In between each layer ask yourself – “What do I feel like now, what do I want to do now?” – Respond to what you feel.

2. I then added 'colour blocks' with the water-soluble crayons and activated the crayons.

3. I then added gesso with a palette knife and brayer to the page.

4. I then did some finger painting and mark making with heavy-bodied acrylics.

5. Then I reached for my stencils and ink sprays.

6. I then felt like adding some rubber stamping (this is a script stamp).

7. I loved adding in some washi tape too.

8. I added a bit more finger painting.

At this point I wanted to add imagery and words to my page, so I decided to add a layer of transparent gesso on the page so that I could more easily draw and write over the layers.

9. I added words that spoke to me, that I needed to be reminded of in that moment.

10. I then started adding imagery intuitively. Floral-, leaf- and heart-like shapes came to me.

11. To make your imagery stand out you could add 'an aura' around the shapes by adding some watercolour crayons or acrylics (watered down) and blend them out.

12. With a white posca pen I added small doodles to the page where I felt they were needed.

Et Voila, at this point I deemed my page finished! :)

I hope you enjoyed the lesson today! :) Below are some more close ups of the piece.

I can't wait to see your intuitive pieces! :) Thanks for spending some of your time with me today! :)

Big Hugs! Tam x

© Willowing Arts Ltd – 2014 – www.willowing.org