HandPan Music and Intuitive Painting

Inspired by a video we stumbled across over at YouTube recently, with this post, we’ll be taking a brief look, at the practice known as, “Intuitive Painting”.

Here at HPM, we’ve dabbled with the medium of paint as a creative outlet before ourselves, and while we’d never specifically heard of intuitive painting, as being an actual “thing” before, the thought of getting to splodge some paint around, on a nice fresh clean canvas, always holds appeal.  Especially, when there are no aims, no goals, and no objectives, other than to just let go and paint. And particularly, as is the case in the video below, when accompanied by some super-chilled out Handpan music…


Intuitive painting by: Aline LARANT, Music by: Sylvain LACOUCHIE of: AML Musicothérapie. Performed on an Aciel Handpan.

What is Intuitive Painting?

Well, essentially, as stated above, it’s the practice of just letting it all flow out, and letting whatever will be, be, utilizing the medium of paint.  It’s not necessarily the practice of simply “making a mess”, as our description might thus far suggest, but instead, as the name suggests, it’s all about listening to your intuition, and letting it guide you.  Which, with the Swiss Hang-makers, PANArt, having been known to refer to the Hang as a “mirror to the soul”, suggesting that you should “feel”, rather than “think” while playing, Intuitive painting, and Handpan music, would seem to be perfect bedfellows.  And what we find particularly fascinating about the concept when accompanied by the Handpan, is that it transforms the instrument from a tool of creative output, into a source of creative input - in what feels like a very pure way.

Thought of by some as the practice of meditating, with a brush in your hand - If you read around the net too much, you could be in danger of thinking that this is something only for Ultra-Spiritual Types...  

‘...the practice allows you to open more to presence and spaciousness and self compassion. To the dreamtime and the invisible realms. To a deeper connection with the spark of spirit and your innate divine wisdom.’ By http://creativejuicesarts.com/what-is-intuitive-painting/

However, we find ourselves of the opinion, that whether you’re looking to “spark the spirit of your innate divine wisdom”, or simply happen to have a box of paints lying around your home, and have a half-hour to kill, intuitive painting, is something that we can all enjoy - should we choose to.

* Visiting this site, fancy giving it a go, but don’t happen to have a Handpan musician handily nearby? - you can find a lot of great Handpan music for download over at Bandcamp, where you can also find the HPM sampler album, available for free download: HERE.

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