Peony and Parakeet

Fly to Your Inner World and Color the Emotion

Intuitive Art Journaling

Art is more than re-coloring what we already see. This week, I talk about intuitive art journaling and inspire you to follow your spirit and create more freely.

Intuitive art journaling

Even if we continuously grow our skills as artists, the joy of art-making disappears if we use too much reasoning. It’s good to practice the technical skills, but it’s also important to arrange time for the intuitive ideas to emerge.

Two Words – “Intuitive Power”

“Intuitive power” – these words suddenly came to mind when I looked at my colored pencils recently. I have been painting a lot, and it has made me miss my colored pencils, those powerful helpers! So, while working on the last pages of my Dylusions Creative Journal, I have been spending some quality time with them.

I started with a house, but then moved on to color more freely. I wanted to catch the atmosphere of that place rather than stay in the material level, drawing windows and such.

House and its atmosphere - colored pencil art

The longer I have been an artist, the more I have wanted to work with invisible things. More than tangible things, I want to express the spirit and the complexity of the world that can’t be photographed. I want to create images that are more like keys to many questions rather than direct answers to one.

Intuitive painting in progress. Oil painting by Paivi Eerola
The painting that I currently have in progress. I will share more pictures once it’s finished.

Intuitive Artist

Even if I have embraced and used the word “intuitive” for over ten years, I have now realized that it’s not just one word of the many, it’s “the word” for me. And I don’t mean to narrow myself with the word, but to expand my thinking and creating in the direction that feels natural to me.

Intuitive art journaling in progress
I like to use the eraser pencil for accurate erasing.

More than a building, I want to visualize the spirit of the place – the sensations that it causes in me.

Abstract and intuitive colored pencil art. Color is the key.

More than a face, I want to visualize the spirit of the person.

Intuitive selfie and visualized thoughts. Art journal pages by Päivi Eerola of Peony and Parakeet.
The face is from the free video tutorial Coloring an Intuitive Selfie.
Vermeer girl and her abstract space. Following the intuition in art-making.
The face is from the free step-by-step guide Vermeer Girl with Heart

Art Journaling Without Words

Rather than words, intuitive insights can come up as pictures. So, intuitive art journaling can be as simple as creating a series of drawings. The connection with a certain color can be enough to get started.

Having fun with colored pencils. Making small drawings in grid.

Color is a hole, and if you jump in, you enter the immaterial world. Colored pencils are the easiest tools for breaking the ice between the inner and outer.

Intuitive power” – what do these words evoke in you?

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