What it’s like being an intuitive artist
A painting in progress for a client
Being an intuitive artist is not something I ever set out to do! I may be wrong, but I think the majority of us with intuitive, woo woo, weird skills never intended to do what we do, but invariably, one way or another it ends up pouring out of us. Personally, I think the sooner we embrace our innate gifts, the better off we will be, the more whole we will feel and the deeper our life journey will be.
For me it’s been a particularly interesting ride. I always knew art was going to pour out of me one way or another, I distinctly remember feeling very frustrated that I had to go to primary school because all I wanted to do was draw pictures all day.
However, I never intended to be an intuitive artist, indeed, I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do. After taking a few year’s out after graduating secondary school (high school) and working in a fabulous music shop, I decided to explore my passion of the arts and took a Fundamentals / Foundational course at an Art & Design college in Canada - opting to study as an international student from the UK. Not because the college was that spectacular but more to try living in a different country and studying at the same time.
From there I discovered Graphic design and that felt like a logical fit for me - I got to be creative and I got paid! Win Win! And for quite some time that worked really well for me. I graduated with Honours, got hired right out of college and worked my way up from Junior Designer all the way up to Art Director where I was managing a small team of inspiring designers and wearing the many different hats that an Art Director wears in a small design firm just north of Toronto.
It was completely illogical by most people’s standards to then quit it all and leave when I was at the top of my game! But I did. Over the space of 5 years I lost two close family members to cancer, and after caring for my Aunt through 3 years of ovarian cancer and then being with her as she died I was mentally and emotionally done.
Death has a way of making you take a cold hard look at your life and your values and I took that look and realised I wasn’t happy. I knew I didn’t want to reach the end of my life and not at least have tried to give my dream of being an artist a go, and being a designer just wasn’t going to cut it any more. I needed to draw and paint and be weird, not carve out logos and then present them to a corporate boardroom…
In short, I took the leap of faith
I packed up my life in Canada (and my dog) and moved back to the UK and to Wales where my family had moved to after I had left. It took me about a year to get over the trauma that cancer wreaks on those it leaves behind and by then I was searching for a deeper meaning to my work. Pretty pictures of landscapes or cute animals just wasn’t going to cut it for me and the arts and crafts scene of my local area wasn’t my thing either.
Seeking deeper meaning:
Trust Your Wings - personal painting
Having always had an interest in spirituality and metaphysics I had come across my share of Tarot and Oracle decks and I decided it would be amazing to paint an angel themed oracle deck, I didn’t honestly think anyone would pay me to, but I started doing it anyway.
For me, tarot and oracle work seemed like a beautiful way to help people.
On its simplest level, the recipient got to have 44 -78 beautiful artworks to peruse at their leisure (as a life-long art collector this felt like a win) and on a deeper level, this ancient means of divination was genuinely helping people tap into their own innate wisdom and perhaps a deeper spirituality that runs through all of us. This felt like the meaning I was searching for.
Long story short - I got hired to create an angel themed oracle deck and I suppose that was when I realised there was something else going on. I had stated my intention, started moving in its direction and not long later I had the biggest commission of my career! I was suddenly immersed in a subject I’d never dreamed I’d be allowed or able to do!
The first card I painted for my first oracle deck - Blessings & Abundance
Through the process of creating that first deck I was immersed in the world of Angels, Archangels and Guardian Angels and was being led by one of the best experts in the field - Kyle Gray. Talk about an initiation!
It was Kyle that encouraged me to explore intuitive paintings of people’s angels and guides and so once again I leapt into the unknown.
What followed was several years of deep discovery
One of my earliest commssions was painting an angel that had been met during a near death experience! Needless to say I knew how important this work was, I knew what it meant to the person who approached me to work in this way, and the end result was truly magical for me and for her!
Having a background in graphic design, I know how to create a beautiful composition, I know colour theory, and I’m an art history nut so it was quite an experience to have all these logical skills and be asked to use the tools - but not the logic.
Guidance - client vision
My designer brain had to take a back seat. After years of honing my craft, being an early adopter of digital art and creating my own unique style I suddenly was finding I had a deep connection with Spirit that was asking all those parts of me to step aside and to pay attention to what they were showing me!
I’ve since learned that all those years spent honing my craft, painstakingly learning how to draw and paint, and the frustration of not being able to paint what I could see so perfectly in my head all had a purpose behind it.
My creative process turned on its head
After years of honing this new intuitive skillset - or simply learning how to unlearn all that I had been taught (it’s all in your imagination, you can’t see energy, you can’t see auras, there’s nothing after we die) I found I was being asked to completely step aside and use my skills to channel beautiful wisdom from elsewhere. Interestingly, years after embarking on this journey - when I try to create in my “normal” designer brain way and overly curate an artwork - it feels so painful, laborious and clunky I very quickly give up. I’ve become so accustomed to working with Spirit in this way through my art it feels like I want to do it for the rest of my life!
Aldebaran - personal vision
What do I get out of it?
Some of my clients have asked me - what do I get out of working for them intuitively? Afterall if I’m just a channel or conduit for divine wisdom, what part do I play?
Well firstly, I get to do art all day long - which to remind you of the beginning of this article - was something I’ve always wanted to do!
But secondly, I get to spend time bathed in this beautiful energy for as long as it resides with me. And this is where the woo woo weird stuff comes in. For me it feels completely and totally normal now to tap into an energy stream that cannot be seen by our physical eyes but can be tapped into via our intuitive vision, our other senses.
Often after working for a client, I find myself casting around, perhaps on my TV looking for that “show” I was watching that felt so amazing, that was so beautiful, that had me so in awe… and then I realise, that show was the energy I was tapped into, the frequency of the divine and the spiritual, the magic that resides in all of us but so many of us have turned off or no longer believe in.
I also have my meaning! This work is helping people. Not only is it a beautiful piece to grace the walls of people’s homes, it is helping to connect people with their higher purpose, loved ones on the other side, beings who wish to help us on our journey and remind us of our innate divinity and beauty. I have now created hundreds of intuitive artworks for clients all over the world and although these artworks are all unique, and completely different there is a thread in them that joins them all and that is the love that is coming through for everyone who wishes to connect to something deeper. The messages that come through always raises us up, always wishes to show us a deeper meaning, a higher purpose, wishes to enshrine us in our birthright of completeness as Soul’s on a very special journey.
So for me, the path of becoming an intuitive artist has been a path of deep dedication to the craft, honing my skillset and my work, and then letting go. Some would call that “letting go and letting god” and there’s a similarity there for sure. The amount of times I’ve questioned what has come through for a client in the artwork, only to be told that the symbol I’ve painted has some deep inner meaning to the recipient - a meaning not shared with me at all. I’ve had countless experiences of “proof” that have helped me on my way, proved to me personally that I’m not losing my marbles, I’m not crazy for believing in a world of angels and guardian entities, teams of helpers just waiting to be called on to aid us in our complex and often deeply painful experiences here on earth.
It continues therefore to be my deepest honour to do this work, to explore the unknown and the unseen and to translate what I am shown into the visible here.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my thoughts on what it’s like to be an intuitive artist!
Feel free to drop any questions you might have in the comments and I’ll be sure to respond!
