Using your intuition guided by mental and muscle memory developed from your creative practice

Over time both your mental memory and your muscle memory get stronger as you engage in the creative process. Each time you sit down to paint or draw you learn something new both with your hands and with your mind.

This is helpful in building trust and confidence with your art and also helps you to approach your art-making with more freedom and fluidity. This week in my sketchbook, I sat down without a plan.

First I created an abstract background using the paints already in my palette. I added splashes of watered down acrylic for more texture.

Without waiting for this first layer to dry I jumped in, to create some intuitive Daisy flowers using my inner wisdom and memory to guide me. I chose flowers instinctively, because these are generally my safety net in life and in art.

The first layer of petals is a greenish colour. I love how this layer kind of melted into the background. The wet parts of the background creating new layers of colour and surprise to these fun and bouncy petals.

I purposefully left my leaf shapes patchy. I love this effect, it creates a movement and energy to these leafy stems which would be missing with a more find detail approach.

Adding white to the first layer of petals, sparingly allowing the underlayer to peep through, brings these delicate petals to life even before the centres are completed with contrasting yellow orange and brown highlights.

Working fast and intuitively like this, helps to remove the need for perfection in the painting process. Allowing the subject to emerge creatively instead of over planning or enforcing too many rules. 
 

Take care, Sam x

 Sam Horton is a professional artist, passionate about the links between art, creativity and well-being.

Learn more about Holistic art practices for well-being

Sam's Art Studio and Studio Shop are based in Australia on the Sunshine Coast.

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