The Space Between Rules and Instinct

The other day an adult student shared she got to a point in the session where she didn't need to copy what was in front of her, but rather she could trust her gut to complete the painting in the way it needed to develop. She saw that she intuitively wanted a different mood, a set of imagined details, a version that differed from outer reality but felt more aligned with her inner world.

That's where my struggle lies every single time.

Fighting my adherence to rules and perfection versus giving myself permission to imagine and trust my instincts. It's the discomfort in between that is so painful—the space where I see my mistakes, and instead of letting shame take over, I climb over the fence and arrive at freedom to go in a different direction.

What does it take to trust your instincts?

Sometimes it requires erasing a number of completed steps that went awry. Stepping away to let things settle. Coming back another day with renewed energy and a fresh perspective.

Releasing the end result and trusting your intuition are perhaps the most important and most difficult lessons in artmaking because they ask you to relinquish the crutches of certainty. The expected rules of engagement. The comfort of reproducing what already exists.

And yet, this is where the real work begins.

At our studio, we often talk about creativity as more than learning techniques or producing beautiful artwork. Creativity is a way of paying attention to yourself. A way of building trust in your own voice. A way of staying present with uncertainty long enough to discover something unexpected.

The painting becomes a mirror.

The willingness to alter course, make mistakes, and imagine a different possibility on the canvas is often the same skill we need in life. Whether we're navigating change, recovering from burnout, or simply trying to understand ourselves better, growth rarely happens by following a perfectly prescribed path.

It happens when we're willing to listen to what is emerging.

Perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts of the creative process: not the finished painting, but the confidence that comes from realizing we can trust ourselves to find the next step.

Interested in experiencing this process yourself? Join us for an upcoming class, workshop, or retreat, and discover how creativity can help you reconnect with your intuition, build resilience, and find freedom beyond perfection.