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In music, “playing by ear” refers to relying on an innate sense of what sounds or feels right; without referring to, or depending upon prescribed procedures or written music. This use of ear, referring to an ability to recognize musical intervals, dates from the early 16th century. At that time, play it by ear meant to sing or play an instrument without printed music. By the 19th century, the same phrase came to mean to proceed one step at a time, trusting intuition and a subtle sense of timing, rather than a prearranged plan, to determine the proper course of action.

“What happens then?” “I don’t know…. We’re playing it by ear at the moment.” (A. Smith, East-Enders, 1961)

And so it is with intuitive painting, where one paint stroke leads to another, each successive mark playing off of what came before and informing what comes after.  In the same vein as “jamming” in music, intuitive painting can get pretty dicey at times, as sometimes discordant “notes” appear and must become a part of the whole. The whole thing can get pretty ugly and can cause the artist (me) to want to give up and throw the whole thing in the dumpster (wait, I’ve done that!). But perseverance, pushing through the uncomfortable ugly stage, can result in beautiful and unexpected passages in the painting.

The process of painting by ear (or would that be “eye”, or even “I” – as intuition comes from within the self, not from outside or empirical knowledge?) requires frequent reassessment. A dance, if you will, two steps forward, one step back… I paint, step back, assess what is working, what is not, step forward, adjust… And then, at some point in the dance, I’m struck by a shape, and the hidden “subject” of the painting begins to emerge.

Here is a section of my latest painting, Blooming Prairie Bison, before the bison presented herself to me. (The entire canvas was filled with the abstract patterns you see.)

I've been asked how I "know" what the painting wants to be. Sometimes an image appears - not unlike when you lay on your back and look up at the clouds - and "see" dragons or horses or sheep. The subconscious mind is always looking to recognize shapes, and that is how I see an image within an abstract.  Sometimes I just get a feel for what I want the painting to be, and impose a shape by painting around it. In the case of Blooming Prairie Bison, it was a combination of both - the bison image appeared as I began to block in a more solid background, having finally made the decision to "make my big move."  I'll write more about that aspect of painting in another blog post!