Painting was always something I wanted to learn to do well. In school, I was always able to do pretty well in my art studio classes where creative juices were flowing non-stop. But anytime I sat down at home, my head was blocked from anything creative and my hand just couldn’t move the way I wanted it to. This very reason is why I decided to enroll myself in a painting workshop called Intuitive Painting.
Intuitive Painting was a class that taught you how to paint without listening to your subconscious thoughts of judgments and egos. You learn to quiet that disapproving voice. In order to accomplish that, you start painting with your left hand. And for those of you that are lefties or ambidextrous- you had no obstacle there, but for the ones with dominate rights, it’s definitely something that takes a couple of hours to get used to.
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The start of the class began with choosing a brush with your left hand then choosing different paint colors with your left hand. With the paintbrush awkwardly positioned with your less practiced hand; you embark on slathering a piece of watercolor paper with the elementary tempra paint your left hand so intuitively selected.
After the paint slathering of sheet one, you add another sheet of paper connecting to the first, making sure of only one thing; that your painting connects. Add a few more sheets of paper filled with color galore.
Hmm, what’s this I’ve created? Letting your subconscious mind control your hand can make some pretty interesting and wonderful artwork.
Once you’ve freed yourself from your inner critic, you can then create details using your right hand (or keeping with your left if you’re left handed). Keep in mind however, if you find yourself analyzing your art, switch back to your left hand and continue the way you started.
You can do this with any sort of medium; tempra paint, acrylics, pastels, oils, etc. My workshop lasted only one day- usually to get the full effect, I was told that you should split the class in two; one using your left hand to slather color, then the next day, adding details with your right hand.
Not only can you do this with painting, but writing and dancing. Practice this at home and you’re sure to overcome any creative block.