I added a few more washes and turned my vine painting on its side. I quite like the contrasting effect of watercolour with the oil bars.
An important aspect of intuitive painting is the ability to tap into your subconscious mind, bring information to the surface and be able to use it in a creative way. I have read that dreams are a window to this area of the mind. I have great difficulty remembering my dreams if I don’t try and consciously bring them to the surface as soon as I wake up. Intuitive painting is all about revealing yourself absolutely, honestly, warts and all. This way of working gives you transparency and coming to terms with this gives you incredible freedom. “This is me”, like me or not and these are my paintings which you may like or not.
I great way to tap into the subconscious, is to make a, “Life collage”. A few years ago, while attending Margie Johnson’s watercolour lessons, she had us make this type of collage. She had laid out a pile of magazines, put on a lovely classical piece of music and asked us to spend 10 minutes tearing out images. We had to empty our minds and not think about what we were doing, not showing any preferences for the images. We then took a large piece of paper and had to paste down the torn pieces quickly, without any thoughts of composition or preference. All the collages were put up on the wall and we were asked to really look at our own piece for five minutes and then make a few comments to the group. My collage absolutely astounded me! I had created this without conscious thought. I couldn’t believe how much of myself was revealed there, it was really scary!
Every torn piece of magazine held a huge amount of relevance for me. It is a great resource for ideas for future paintings.
I great way to tap into the subconscious, is to make a, “Life collage”. A few years ago, while attending Margie Johnson’s watercolour lessons, she had us make this type of collage. She had laid out a pile of magazines, put on a lovely classical piece of music and asked us to spend 10 minutes tearing out images. We had to empty our minds and not think about what we were doing, not showing any preferences for the images. We then took a large piece of paper and had to paste down the torn pieces quickly, without any thoughts of composition or preference. All the collages were put up on the wall and we were asked to really look at our own piece for five minutes and then make a few comments to the group. My collage absolutely astounded me! I had created this without conscious thought. I couldn’t believe how much of myself was revealed there, it was really scary!
Every torn piece of magazine held a huge amount of relevance for me. It is a great resource for ideas for future paintings.
I love these kind of creative exercises! Do any of you have any good ones to share?
16 comments:
Your painting is coming along just beautifully. I dont know if you taked about this somewhere, but did you just come up with the name "intuitive painting" for your current work or were you influenced by another person/class or book to use this to describe your work?
I have made a number of these magazine collages and find them fun and revealing also., Thanks for sharing this with us.
Hi Dianne,
I recently ripped pages from a magazine,,,preparation for a collage/montage that I haven't started yet. Now to find the time,,,yours looks great.
I also like the oil bar with watercolor look,,,very unique!
PS: My husband also is having back issues,,,,I feel your pain.
Uh, mmmmmm I'm sorry for his pain.
:-D
Dear Suki, so glad you visited! Have been thinking a lot about you and wondering how you are.
I call my painting process, "intuitive" because I start a lot of my work, just painting colours, lines and shapes and often an image appears and I might go with that for a while until another appears. I allow the painting to have its voice and see where it takes me. (A lot of artist paint this way) I have written about the influences of living in the Middle East last year and my way of painting. See my first posting in June 08.
The vine painting is quite different, I paint outdoors with a group and am trying to abstract what I see, trying to get to the essence of the subject.
Enjoy that warm fire and hot cocoa!
Dear Babs,
Hope you have fun with your collage, it is very revealing!
My husband, Iain, is really struggling, is just lying flat, waiting for the pain to go. He has an appointment with the doctor on Thursday, but not sure how I am going to get him in the car!
Sorry to hear your husband is also a sufferer.
Thank you Dianne. Oh my, re: getting your husband in the car. Perhaps you have a neighbor who can help. That sounds so distressing. I hope all goes well for him. He is luck to have you there to help.
Fascinating idea....I don't buy magazines though! The painting is lovely, full of light bouncing around.Wish I had your intuition!
Dianne, thanks so much for this post which is incredibly inspiring!
I will try this although I do seldem buy magazins, as I am not able to throw them away and have no space:)
But this is something which I must try. Thanks again for sharing and have a great creative day
Andrea
Dear Sharon, its strange, but I think probably very few painters buy magazine? I only buy them when I am travelling and need something to while away the time!
Dear Andrea, I was thinking that I only read magazines when I am travelling or in a doctor's/hairdresser waiting room - then I thought, I should do what Andrea does and keep a sketchbook in my bag and draw the people. How big is your Metro sketch-book?
Hi Dianne
This work is lovely... both ways you have shown it! I've never thought of using oilbars with watercolours... and it would work- interesting idea!
Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to provide all the stretching canvas info! Greatly appreciated!
namaste
Elis.
The revamped Vine Leaves is like an entirely new painting!
Yes, I've done these collage exercises and they're great fun. I've keep both of my recent (one in 2007, the other mid summer this year) exercises up in my studio because they're so inspiring.
The vine leaves painting is fantastic! I've never used oil bars with watercolor, but I may have to give it a try...
Dreams can be a great source of inspiration, especially when they leave a strong visual residue. You start with that and let it develop. I call these kinds of paintings "imaginary landscape", because until recently I wasn't familiar with the term "intuitive painting", but the latter is probably more accurate. There is also the state between sleeping and waking, which can sometimes yield incredibly vivid images. The trouble is, they last such a short time that by the time you're up and dressed, all that is left is a vague memory.
Suki, thanks for your concern! I am taking him to a neurosurgeon today and not sure if he is going to cope with the ride in the car. Am thinking about you a lot and hope you find some solutions to what you are facing.
Elis, thanks so much for visiting! I really love your paintings and am going to enjoy seeing what you come up with next!
Suzanne, I would love to see your collages, would you share them with us? I know these are intensly personal, they really give a window into the soul and so are quite revealing.
Mineke, I would love to remember my dreams more accurately. I find I have to consciously lie there just after waking and try to bring the dream into my consciousness, bit by bit. Often I forget to do this if other thoughts stream in.
Take care, my friends!
Dianne, I am so slow to catch on to things these days. When I saw your painting on my list, I thought it was the old one for some reason. Terrible, terrible of me! My apologies, indeed.
I do love the way this painting is progressing. In the little snap (on my blog) you can't tell what changes you have made, but in the larger shot it really jumps out at you. I am finding the contrast very appealing and the work with the negative space also calls me a lot.
I have never heard of doing a life collage, but it is clearly something I would love to try. I love the idea of using techniques like this to explore where a painting might take you. I can see where this just might be very helpful. Of course, I also find a lot of realization in reading some of these delightful blog posts.
Thank you so much for sharing and for also (unknown to you) reminding me I need to pause and take a closer look at my blog icon list.
Love,
Kim
Dianne,I'm back just to say I'm thinking of you & the back pain issues.
Hoping you get opportunity to paint,,,,but I also understand how difficult that can be with what's going on at your house.
Mine doesn't like to take the pain meds,,,,(which I completely understand),,,,but one of us is going to need to!
#:-D
Hi Babs, thanks so much for your concern. My husband has slipped a disc and he has been put on bed rest for six weeks! He hates taking meds but has been convinced to take anti-inflamatories for a while. So we are pretty much confined over the festive season. I am very thankful that I have my paintings to get on with inbetween caring for him, we artists are so lucky in that way.
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