I have created hundreds of intuitive paintings, drawings and clay models since 1986, with many different phases, and themes. I was astonished at first by what I connected to in my paintings. From the beginning my creative work reflected and then increased my experience in meditation, energy exercises and dreams. 

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I developed a focus and concentration in painting that brought me right into the present moment, the white paper received and contained whatever I expressed and the small group that I attended from 1986-1990 provided a safe holding atmosphere. 

 

I realised that intuitive painting was a silent but active form of meditation that involved both mind and body. No matter how I felt when I arrived at the group (happy, sad, inspired, tired), I saw that I could always paint and this was a great discovery. 

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I painted fast and at first often completed three or four paintings in an evening session. I often felt happy and free afterwards as if a great river had washed through me during the hours I was painting. It always felt liberating, no matter what subject matter came forward as intuitive painting created a feeling of energy expansion.

 

From 1990 onwards I painted alone very regularly; it was a lifeline that was vital for me, it helped me to move out of limiting emotions. As soon as I began to move the paintbrush across the paper, I could breathe and relax into myself again. The paintings that emerged could bring insight into what I had been feeling before I started.  In those first years I experienced and expressed a whole range of feelings and emotions. 

 

Sometimes I felt like a deep-sea diver plunging into reds and dark colours, into the depths of the unconscious, and contacting and expressing previously hidden memories, that were linked to the causes of my difficulties. Then in the next painting I contacted freedom and joy as I soared up like a bird into pastel colours and light. 

 

I often painted non-physical guides and archetypal figures who came to assist me in this transformation process and their presence was very comforting. Large female figures appeared in my paintings right from the beginning with encouraging and supportive messages. I also had helpful dreams and uplifting experiences in meditation that brought understanding and insight. 

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As time went by my intuitive paintings have increasingly connected me to non personal themes, to a deepening trust and knowing, to feelings of joy and expansion. In the last years the paintings that emerge are often abstract, sometimes geometrical and connecting to unknown, often mysterious aspects. 

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​​I never know in advance what I will paint. I stand in front of a piece of white paper, take a deep breath, my body moves, my hand moves and a surprising variety of feelings and themes flow through me onto the paper. I always start with one piece of paper and add more if the painting needs to grow. Occasionally a painting has expanded onto many sheets of paper. Some of these paintings are special, moments of grace, and I have chosen to present a small selection of them for you here. 

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Intuitive painting is a bit like fly-fishing: you prepare the materials then wade into an in-between world, into a flowing river, cast your fly onto the water and wait for a fish to bite. You never know on that particular day if the river is deep or shallow, fast or slow flowing, what is coming down or what you will catch.  Over the last 40 years a whole host of paintings and writings have emerged from my inner river. There the analogy with fishing ends as what surfaces from being immersed in the creative flow are not fish but vibrant colours, images, forms and then later words. 

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Immediately after making a painting I engage with automatic writing. This can be in the form of poetry or prose. In my second book Painting into Life, published in 2021, I include most of these paintings and the accompanying texts.

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These paintings bear witness to the mystery and healing power of the creative flow, to the intuitive guidance that operates within and the different stages of the painting journey. I emphasise the transformative power of creativity, and how it enabled me to move away from limitation and towards freedom. 

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