Why Your Artistic Intuition Is Usually Right (And How to Trust It More)

Your artistic intuition is usually right, but most artists don’t trust it. When you learn to follow those hunches instead of second-guessing yourself, your work gets better fast. Here’s what we’re discovering at our Italy retreat about the power of trusting your gut in art-making, and why this simple shift creates dramatic transformation in your work.

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The Voice You Keep Ignoring

You know that feeling when you’re standing in front of your painting, brush in hand, and you have this strong sense about what needs to happen next?

Maybe you feel that a certain area needs more blue. Or that an edge should be softer. Or that you need to make a bold mark right there.

You feel it inside. You know what wants to happen.

But then your thinking brain kicks in.

Is this the right move? What if I mess it up? What if this ruins everything I’ve done so far? Maybe I should wait and think about it more.

And so you hesitate. You overthink it. You analyze it from every angle.

And often, nothing happens at all.

 

What’s Happening in Italy Right Now

I’m writing this from Italy, where we’re on day three of our Art2Life retreat. We’ve named today “Trust and Intuition,” and I’m watching something happen that gets me so excited every single time I see it.

We have this amazing group of artists here, and they’re starting to lean into something they’ve had all along. Something they’ve been carrying with them this whole time but didn’t quite trust.

Their intuition.

And when they do? The transformation is dramatic.

The work doesn’t just get better. It gets better fast.

 

Why Your Intuition Is Usually Right

Here’s what I know after 25 years of making art and working with thousands of artists.

When you take a hunch in your art, it’s usually right. It gets you closer to what you’re really trying to express. But we don’t trust it.

We’ve been trained to think our way through problems. To analyze. To be logical and methodical. And that works great for a lot of things in life.

But in art? Your intuition is actually you. It’s your inner self expressing itself in your work. It’s your soul knowing what it wants, what it loves, and what it wants to do.

Think about it this way. Nobody ever looks back at a big decision and says, “Wow, I trusted my intuition and I was completely wrong.”

You know what they say instead?

“I knew it. I felt something was off, and I did it anyway.”

“My gut was telling me something, and I ignored it.”

“I should have trusted that feeling I had.”

I’ve done that so many times myself. We all have.

The Fast Path to Progress

This is why trust and intuition is the fast path to making real progress in your art.

Because most of the time when we’re making art and we take a hunch, it gets us closer to where we want to go. But we don’t trust it. We second-guess ourselves. We override that inner knowing with our thinking mind.

And it’s a thing to get people to trust it.

But here at the retreat, we’re going around helping artists do exactly that. And they’re slowly starting to do it. They’re making moves they feel inside without overthinking it. They’re following their hunches.

And the work gets better. Fast.

The Dance Between Play and Thinking

Here’s what happens a lot when we’re painting.

We start out playing. We’re free, we’re expressive, we’re moving paint in a playful way. Things are flowing.

And then the thinking brain comes in.

Suddenly we’re analyzing every move. Questioning every choice. Trying to figure out if we’re doing it “right.”

The key is learning to allow yourself to move the paint until you feel something. Until you have an actual reaction. A sense of excitement or rightness.

And then you can ask yourself why. What is it about this that’s working? What am I responding to?

And then do more of that.

Because that reaction, that feeling, that’s actually you. That’s your inner self expressing itself in your work.

When You Get Stuck

Sometimes we get stuck in our artwork and we’re not sure where to go next. A lot of artists experience this.

And here’s what’s interesting. Often when we’re stuck, it’s because we’ve stopped listening to our gut. We’ve gotten too caught up in our heads, trying to think our way to the next move.

Learning to let go a little bit is a great way to create a clean slate. To start hearing that intuition a little better.

It takes practice. We’re not necessarily trained to listen to our gut or respond to it so easily. But in art, it’s the best way to go.

Letting Go of Fear, Embracing Curiosity

One of the most exciting things I’m watching here with our students is seeing them let go of the fear and be open to trust.

When that happens, they can really embrace the curiosity that comes from their intuition.

They’re not trying to work with a specific result in mind. They’re not trying to make the painting look a certain way. They’re following what feels alive, what creates energy, what sparks something inside them.

And you know what? If it doesn’t look right, it’s only paint. We can paint over it.

But more often than not, when they trust that gut feeling, when they make that move they’re sensing inside, something good happens. Something real happens.

Trust in All Areas of Life

As adults, in all walks of life, it can be hard for us to learn to trust our gut and make decisions from that place.

Scientists know that our gut is actually very intelligent. There’s wisdom there that goes beyond rational thinking.

But we’ve learned to let our heads run the show. We analyze everything. We think we need to figure it all out logically before we can move forward.

Sometimes we have to trick our head, get it out of the way, so that we can really play and embrace what wants to happen.

Your Invitation

So here’s my invitation to you.

If you can lean into your intuition just a little more in your art-making, it’s really the fast path to making your art more and more like you. Making it easier. Faster. Better.

That hunch you have about your painting? It’s probably right.

That feeling you get when something isn’t working? Trust it.

That sense of excitement when you make a particular mark or use a particular color? Follow it.

Your soul knows what it wants. What it loves. What it wants to express.

All you have to do is trust it.