Still Working Intuitively
I recently had another beautiful email from my glass artist friend, Lesley McIver, in Golden Bay, New Zealand. We were talking about our work and how grateful we were each day we step into our studios when she wondered if I was still doing my intuitive art. The truth is, I can’t stop doing intuitive work. It is a part of me and a part of my wholeness. Lesley was just confirming I was still on my personal path. We have been following the work of the other for many, many years now. She knows I need this work for me, but she also knows I need growth in my work for me, too. Good friends are like that aren’t they? No matter what, we encourage each other to take a hard look at the place from where we have come as well as the place we are headed while keeping the focus on the present. They allow you to fall only to be there to pick you up again. They are true gifts.
So with Lesley (and other good friends, too) in mind, I am sharing one of the pieces I have worked on recently in the studio. This is small for me, 18″ x 12″ on hardboard done with acrylics (mainly inks). It is funny with some of this intuitive work. I sometimes find it difficult to share here on the blog. It is as though I am opening myself up to the world – showing you the part of myself I hold so private. From an intellectual standpoint I know you don’t see the same things I see or feel, but emotionally I want to protect that part of me. Maybe this is also why it is a challenge to title this work, but eventually I am able to get to that aspect. Do you feel this way about any parts of your work?
I would love to hear from you on this or any other art subject. Have a wonderful weekend.
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There are 10 Comments to "Still Working Intuitively"
this is lovely Kim. the colors are strong. I like inks. I wonder if it is just this time in your life that also makes you reluctant to share your work? Maybe some sensitivity to exposure. As for me, if I had any work (visual) I would show it. At least on-line it isnt scary to me as it is so far removed. It’s sifferent to have a live person standing in front of my work. That can be scary yet with my visual things I dont really feel so attached to viewer reactions. With my written material, back when I did write, I was more sensitive.
Thank you so much, Suki. Inks are really rather special, I think, on some surfaces. I like surfaces meant for watercolors the best. I am glad you like it.
You know, in general I am a very private person although it is often the process I hold dear rather than the product. Maybe you are right that now it is very much the time of my life which makes me this way. I had not thought in that way. It makes a lot of sense and strikes a truth chord with me. It is funny, though, I might be more willing to show you this in person than online. At least, then, I can see the faces of the people who are having a look/see. I don’t really care what one thinks of it (although I love to hear nice comments), but there is a vulnerability I just can’t put my finger on. I am sure, in time, I will figure this out. You have given me a lot to think about, and maybe this is just what needed to happen with this. You are a dear friend, Suki! I love your insights so much. Thank you!
I love the intuitive work you show us here, it is wonderfully transparent but still secretive
it’s like you said, only you know what is in it. Is it a wild word, – or the ocean and the whole earth rebelling against whats happening right now everywhere….it’s full of strong movement and there is a shifting in it, as if the water and the mountains were shifting, drifting.
Thinking of your question you bring up at the end of your post: I have this feeling often that when I draw ‘from my guts’ or intuitively, that I exhibit myself and that I don’t want to do that. Sometimes I just would like to have a big canvas and a place where I could unhibitedly (wow what a word) paste and throw and brush paint on it…. without thinking about how this will be received by others. I don’t know. For now I like to “dress” my emotions with figurative “visions”… have a wonderful Sunday, love Andrea
Thank you so much, Andrea! This is just one of those pieces which really wanted to come out, I think. You are right, it is very transparent (probably what has held me back, too) and I am glad you think it is also secretive…maybe that means it holds a secret not only for me, but for those who view it. Now that would be a wonderful feeling. When I first saw it, the painting surprised me. I had not really seen it when I first did it – rather true to my form, I pushed it aside for a little bit. At any rate, it was the movement which first caught my eye and I am still contemplating that one. Yes, a shifting and drifting of the mountains…maybe in winter with a weak sun pulling the colors out of the snow.
Now about this question, after your post this morning of the gorgeously fantastic lips, I can understand completely how you must feel about a painting exhibiting your soul. It sure seems like that one lays it all open, but that is my perception. I am sure what you have put in the painting is different from what the viewer thinks you have put in. That is the challenge with this business, isn’t it? It takes so much of you to create these works, yet doing that also make you feel so vulnerable when you show them. Sometimes we are so invested in the work, in the process, it is a challenge to separate the two issues. I suppose, true to the artists form, we find it a great challenge to keep the parts of our life separate. They all flow as one complete web of life, uh? But when you work uninhibitedly, I suppose we have to also share uninhibitedly to make it all work. I love this way you say you are “dressing” your emotions. I have never been good with that, but sometimes I wish I could slam the door on them.
You give me so much to think about here, Andrea! I have actually been thinking about your comment here for several days…you have so much to share. Thank you, my friend.
Kim, I didn’t know that my comment would catch your thoughts for days:) I’m honored:)):
I do see many secrets in this painting. The movement is a big one, because we (those who look at your painting) do not know where this movement of those mountainlike shapes comes from, nor do we know what it will do to them. Will everything split up in little parts or will the whole thing drift elsewhere like an iceberg? And there is a big secret too in the lower part, the DARK part, which will swallow us if we come closer:)
I love to look at it!
Oh you sure have and I have had to spend time contemplating what you have shared – and I love contemplating. It is an honor for you to comment here, too.
Ah, I love hearing about these secrets you feel this painting holds. It is so interesting to contemplate paintings and wonder not only where people are in their own hearts (what does the painting pull forward?) and how is it different for each viewer. I don’t think there is anything which makes me happier than knowing a painting is able to pull on an emotion of the viewer! You know? I think we put so much into these paintings – even more than we know sometimes until the painting is finished – that it is impossible not to feel something when one really, honestly looks at it!
Thanks so very much for your insights, Andrea! As always I love them…and thanks for returning to this subject, too!
Hi Kim
OHHH– I love this one! the colours are wonderful and vibrant- the suggestion of landscape and those wonderful flicks of yellow sparks! Oddly enough I have been in intuitive play/ pour mood lately too. Having spent most of the last six months working mostly in my art journal– I know exactly what you mean about being reluctant to share. I am still assimilating the experience of my sabbactical, but I suspect I am going to start having part of my process be more private because I think an understanding of where you are going takes some time to incubate– and maybe that part of the process does need to stay underground-undercover- without outside influence or commentary– until it clarifies itself. Just a thought! namaste
Thank you so much, Elis! It is great to see you back in blog land. I know your sabbatical was needed and well deserved, too, but you were sorely missed! There is always so much to explore when you have taken time away for whatever reason or when life hands you time away. I know with me, it takes forever to find the words to express what was going on or what happened – and often it is just feelings which make themselves known, so they will come out in paintings. I think you bring up a good point that sometimes the “understanding” has to remain private until it makes itself clear. Maybe then, the clarity comes in a way which can’t be shared in some ways. Art has so much to teach us all, but it is a subject where we absolutely must know what is beyond the surface of ourselves. Your thoughts are provoking and I very much appreciate them.
I am glad you like this painting. It truly surprised me and that is such a gift, don’t you think? I just love it when that happens. It keeps bringing a smile to my face which is very unusual for me.
Thanks so much, Elis!
Hi Kim,
! My landscape beads are rather like that – I just begin and somehow a scene appears!
I can see the personal note in this painting – it’s just gorgeous, but I see layers and can understand that they occurred when you were delving deep.
Because we have a gut feeling about what made our own intuitive work, I think we sometimes wonder if others can see right through us too
I love it! Thank you for sharing!
Lesley, you have hit this one head on. I have been staring at this painting since I put it on here (it is propped up right in front of me) and am understanding more and more about it. I think you are right about the layers being about going deep and learning more and more each time.
I think we do wonder about what others can see in our work and that is what sometimes frightens my introverted side away. Then I stick my neck out and post something like this painting which then makes me realize it is probably not so much about a viewer seeing what I felt as it is about a viewer being touched by recognizing something in themselves. Your landscape beads are like that, too. I actually think most of your beads are that way…they pull us in and beg to be touched because people see something of themselves in each bead. My belief is this can only happen, though, when the artist gives of themselves in their work…gives of their heart and soul.
I am glad you love this! That means a lot to me.