Intuitive Painting

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

I don’t think I have ever discussed any portion of my personal creative journey here on the blog, so I hope you don’t mind if I get a bit confessorial with this post.

If you’ve followed the blog for any amount of time, you have probably seen a few posts sharing my artwork. You might have noticed that I’m generally a painter who sometimes dabbles in collage, charcoal and paper crafts amongst other things. With that in mind, I have to confess that during the last two years, I have had a very serious issue and that has been the inability to pick up a paintbrush.

During lockdown, I found that I just could not paint. One might think that a pandemic might be the perfect time for an artist to complete an original series of works or to try out a new medium or to even paint something happy or joyful as a distraction from the reality of a chaotic world. All those options would have been really wonderful to pursue, but my heart was not up to it.

I spent the past two years keeping myself very busy and I will be the first to admit that I was definitely in survival mode. I was posting to the blog three times a week for a while and producing and filming YouTube videos. I was researching and writing new classes and lectures while hosting all of my existing presentations via Zoom. In two years I lead 15 book club discussions. I was working and I was keeping myself busy and I was surviving, but I was not able to paint.

Of course, that’s not to say I wasn’t creative.

I made collages and tons of note cards. I painted pumpkins and made masquerade masks. It was all very tactile and it felt good to glue and cut and arrange things. Looking back I realize that it was a way for me to bring a little creative order to the general feelings of uncertainty and dread I was feeling every day of the pandemic. Managing big feelings during an unprecedented time of global trauma was exhausting, but I was handling it the best I could while still trying to create something.

In the summer of 2021, I embarked on an experiment that helped me push through to the other side of my “painter’s block.” Basically, I established a few new artistic “rules” for a new crazy world. I decided that I would paint only for myself. That meant I wasn’t creating artwork for an exhibition or art show or to adhere to the specifications of a particular theme. That also meant that I wasn’t posting anything to social media or sharing the process (or final results!) with anyone.

The other parameter I set in place was to paint only according to my intuition. Everything from the choice of colors to the composition to the size of the canvas was dependent upon how it made me feel to do it. And if something didn’t feel right, I sat with the artwork until the right path became apparent.

Of course, an experiment like that had to start somewhere – it needed its spark to get going. In an attempt to find that spark, I pulled out all my old sketch books. These books not only contain preliminary drawings and sketches (some of which eventually became paintings), but they are also filled with doodles, scribbles, designs and patterns. When I saw an old scribble that felt good to me, I used that as the jumping off point for a painting. Believe it or not, those old doodles were my spark.

The result was a feeling of complete and utter artistic freedom. It felt amazing!

After creating these paintings, I was not sure what to do with them. Now that quite a bit of time has passed since their inception, I feel like it is the right time to share them with all of you. I don’t know if I will ever show these paintings in a public exhibition or if I will sell them or what, but I know that right now I am ok with that uncertainty.

I am just happy to be painting again.

“PORTAL,” acrylic on canvas, 16″x20″
“ELEVATE,” acrylic on canvas, 16″x20″
“ASTRAL,” acrylic on canvas, 9″x12″
“VALHALLA,” acrylic on canvas, 9″x12″

21 thoughts on “Intuitive Painting”

  1. Adrienne, thank you for your honesty — and for sharing your work. I can so relate to how you felt through this pandemic shutdown. I have 120 pages of a novel, that has sat untended and dormant for a year. I lost the thread of where I was going with it when I broke my arm and could not type, and we were on COVID lockdown. I had been writing every day, dreaming about the characters — and they were telling me where to go with the story. Now, nothing. It’s as if they succumbed to the virus and cannot speak. I hope, like you, my muse will return. I hope the characters have only been idling on a beach somewhere, and that they do not remain in exile.

    Your work is so hopeful and alive. I love the piece “Astral”. It wants to fly off my screen. I hope your creative impetus speaks to something inside me that wants to alight.

    Fondly, Nancy Fox

    Sent from my iPad

    >

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    1. Nancy, I feel your frustration deep in my bones & can definitely empathize. Please don’t give up on your characters. They are waiting for you on the other side of this thing. When you reunite w/ them, it will be so magical. It sounds trite, but hang in there! 🙂

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  2. Artist Adrienne, Thanks for being brave while coping with life on a daily basis. Selfishly I am glad you did zoom to entertain me! Your 4 art pieces shared here belong in a museum’s permanent collection!

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  7. Your paintings are beautiful! I am glad that you have returned to painting. Your talent should not be held captive. Y a ruthless virus! Best wishes Pattii

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  9. Thank you Adrienne for being honest and vocal about your artistic struggles. The pandemic was a hard time for everybody. You fought through it and I love the idea of painting just for yourself. As a photographer I too often hold myself up to others’ standards (or postings) of what a wonderful photograph should be. I especially like Portal (it “transports” me). Your work is so so worthy.

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  10. So interesting what happens when we go with our intuitive flow instead of against it. I love where you are headed with your work, it feels light, organic, and feminine. I wish you many more days of intuitive creativity. You are very good.
    Heather

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The Wandering Art Historian's avatar
I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.