What Intuitive Painting Taught Me About Life
March 3, 2026
In 2019, I tried something completely new: painting without a plan. What began as a small experiment turned into an unexpected lesson about creativity, curiosity, and the way we approach life.
Shortly after we settled in Seattle in 2019, I attended an art retreat in Portland with the artist Flora Bowley. During those few days, I was introduced to intuitive painting—a way of creating that invites curiosity and experimentation rather than planning and perfection.
The process felt surprisingly freeing. Instead of worrying about choosing the “right” color or making the “right” mark, I simply asked myself what felt exciting in the moment and put it on the canvas. If it didn’t work, I could always paint over it. Layer by layer, colors, shapes, and patterns began to emerge in ways that often surprised me.
I had never painted like this before, but this experience showed me something important: creativity doesn’t require certainty. It only requires the willingness to take the next step and see what happens.
One of the lessons intuitive painting offered me is that there is rarely a single “correct” choice. Sometimes a color that initially seems wrong ends up leading to something unexpected and beautiful. The process becomes less about control and more about exploration.
This idea extends beyond the canvas. In daily life, we often hesitate to follow our curiosity because we feel the need to justify our choices. We wonder if we have enough time, if it’s practical, or if it’s the “right” decision. But sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is simply try something that sparks our interest and see how it feels.
What if life itself is a kind of experiment?
Not every step will lead where we expect, but each experience reveals something about who we are—our interests, our strengths, and our resilience. Over time, those small explorations help us understand ourselves more clearly.
In a way, intuitive painting is a reminder that we don’t need to have everything figured out before we begin. Sometimes we only need to make the first mark and trust that the rest will unfold.
