March 15, 2021 - Living Guide

Process Over Product Isabella DiCicco I believe that each and every person should make art. I’ve become that slightly annoying person who tells you everyone is an artist–only because it’s true! Why has it become the standard that you have to paint Starry Night every time you pull out your acrylics? We shouldn’t be putting limits on people before they’ve even painted their first stroke, but rather encouraging them to explore the limitless possibilities that painting–and all art forms–actually offer.

Intuitive painting is a form of painting that is focused on the process, not the product.

I learned about intuitive painting during my sophomore year of high school when my best friend dragged me to an art non-profit he had recently discovered. The organization was founded on the basis that art can serve as a way to cope with trauma and serve as a form of therapeutic relief. I’ll be the first to tell you that I was skeptical.

I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was allowed to create art for the sake of creating, and not in an attempt to become the next Picasso. Despite my hesitation, I quickly fell in love with intuitive painting, and I’m here to tell you why you should too.

As I said, intuitive painting is focused on the process of painting rather than worrying about the end result and whether it’s “good.” I was taught to prioritize things like picking a color because it sparked inspiration, or represented a specific emotion I was feeling that day. Sometimes my instructor wouldn’t allow us to paint over something we didn’t like or completely start over because she didn’t want us to become fixated on how the painting looked. In the beginning it certainly wasn’t easy to let 6