Ikigai – Making Intuitive Painting Feel Natural

This week, I show you my newest oil painting, ‘Ikigai,’ and talk about how intuitive painting can become logical, and how a logical painting can feel natural.

There are many extraordinary elements in this painting, but it still feels quite realistic and natural.

Find the Guiding Element

When you create intuitively, the first layers get all kinds of random details. After that, it is about:

• What to save
• What to tone down
• What to highlight
• What to hide
• What to add

In Ikigai, I looked for an element where the canvas had already come to life as a painting. When I found it, I protected that pulsating spot so that its spirit spread and a small world grew around it.

Can you already guess what element guided me through the whole painting? The picture above is the first layer, and the picture below shows the painting in progress.

Intuition is like a whisper that can expand into a stronger sense of presence. That requires time and skills, but also logic.

From Writing a Course to Painting a Picture

Lately, I have been writing a script for a new course (some info). The more courses I make, the more I realize how important the script is. Having a script doesn’t mean I cannot choose my words freely when speaking to the camera. It also does not stop me from throwing myself fully into the drawing exercises while the camera is rolling.

Course videos include many different elements: theory, examples, explanations of the process, and reflections on artistic thinking. All of this needs a good rhythm. I need to know what I am saying and how freely I am speaking in different parts of the videos. My goal is to build a logical educational structure behind the course, without forgetting the human side of making art. I want my courses to be inspiring, entertaining, and encouraging, but also educational, so that you will move forward in your art-making.

Painting is very much like making videos. Even if you didn’t sketch beforehand, you still need structures and ways to connect single elements into a whole. You need both technical and expressive skills. It’s also beneficial to be able to see what is essential and to understand the role of logic.

The Logic Makes the Magic

When a painting is logical, it feels natural. Logic in painting does not mean that the picture has to be realistic. Instead, it means that there is interaction between the elements. For example, a weak line can humbly take a curve to go around a strong dot. Or a bright line can send small rays of light over nearby shapes, changing their color. The interaction ties everything together.

Even a static image can feel alive. At its best, you can look at a painting like an event. It’s fascinating how interaction makes the unreal elements feel real. Being able to express ourselves freely on paper and canvas is one of the best things in life.

Details of Ikigai

Here’s the guiding element in my painting. I have made some additions to the original strokes, but the spirit is the same.

I have noticed that in my paintings, the guiding element is rarely a focal point. Here’s the focal point – the tulip and her two red friends.

Ikigai – a reason to live, a reason to wake up in the morning. According to this Japanese philosophy, we should orient ourselves toward the point where our passion, mission, calling, and profession meet. I feel like ikigai is condensed into the exact moment where night and morning meet.

In the morning, deep reflection is interrupted by the call to action – get things going! And we get up despite all our responsibilities, but also because of them.

I love this kind of contradiction and complexity of life, and I try to bring it out as naturally as possible in my paintings.

The Four Principles of Ikigai and Making Art

Passion – What you love – Intuitively found
Calling – Why you exist, what’s your inner purpose – Naturally rising
Mission – What you do in practice – Needs logic
Profession – Where you are good at – Skill-oriented

The sweetspot is where all are met and aligned.

What do you think?