The Deceptively Simple Magic of Intuition Painting®
In Intuition Painting®, we try to avoid familiar symbols — hearts, stars, trees, butterflies, and so on — not because they’re wrong, but because they often come from habit rather than intuition. The question is: Are you making a pretty picture, or are you letting brush, color, and emotion lead the way?
Just as a writer avoids clichés to find fresh language, we paint beyond cultural symbols to discover our own imagery and meaning. That said, if a familiar image appears, I never tell someone not to use it — and sometimes I use one too. Maybe it really is their intuition, or maybe it’s simply a placeholder when they feel stuck. In the first of the four sessions in a workshop, that’s common. By the second or third, the painter often paints over it or transforms it into something unexpected.
If an image keeps returning, trust it. Sometimes, just like in writing, the cliché stays because it carries truth — it’s part of what the painting needs to say. In one of my own paintings, I added a dangling heart from a raven’s mouth. It needed it. The painting was calling for it. That heart became a message: when I can laser-focus on what truly matters — not the chaos and static around me — I can blossom in the mud like a lotus and fly like a bird, sharing my heart. Familiar symbols appeared, yes, but placed together they formed something personal and alive — a message I needed at that time. The painting becomes the mirror.
That’s how this process works. Often we don’t know what anything means until all the images emerge in the painting. Sometimes it’s not done by the end of the workshop — but then, like lightning, clarity strikes. It’s deceptively simple. It looks easy, but it isn’t. It pushes us outside our comfort zone, where growth lives. The more we practice, the easier it becomes to drop in — like writing, when the words finally flow — but sometimes we still get stuck. That’s why we keep painting: to find the messages waiting within.
To me, this process mirrors writing, yet it can be even more revealing because paint expresses what words can’t. That’s where the healing happens. The emotions live in our bodies, and they need a way out — what better place than onto the canvas? Intuition Painting® helps us practice listening to that quiet inner voice that knows, not thinks. When we say, “I think it needs…” or “I think it means…,” that’s the rational mind trying to control the story. Intuition speaks differently: “The painting wants…,” “It’s asking for…” Intuition doesn’t analyze; it simply knows.
The “rules” in Intuition Painting® are really just guidelines, the most important being: keep painting the whole session, add paper if your image grows beyond the edges, complete the workshop, and resist copying other images. We remove other artwork from the space — and ban phones during painting sessions — so painters aren’t tempted to Google an image or seek visual references. The goal is to paint what your mind’s eye sees, not what the internet shows you.
Just as vital are the emotional safety guidelines: there are zero comments on anyone else’s painting. Even a well-meant compliment or observation can interrupt another painter’s process and pull them out of their intuitive flow. The studio becomes a sacred, judgment-free space where everyone can explore freely, without comparison or interpretation.
This process is deceptively simple — and that’s its gift. It gives us a safe place to practice letting go, following what feels right, and trusting our own knowing. It doesn’t always make sense while you’re doing it — and that’s the point. You paint, you wonder, you paint again — and eventually it does make sense, often in ways that feel miraculous.
Even after leading many workshops, I still get nervous every time. My inner critic whispers, “Maybe it won’t work this time,” or “Maybe everyone will hate it.” And yet — it always works. Every single time, something magical unfolds. People leave with new insight, and I do too.
That’s the mystery and beauty of this process. It doesn’t just help us let go while we make art — it helps us remember our own power. Because when we truly let go and trust ourselves, we realize: we are the magic.
This painting had such a powerful message for me that I created an Instagram post about the metamorphosis of a painting with this process, check it out: Instagram
From my soul journey to yours,
Maria