How can the way you feel music, react to a poem or look at a painting generate new art? In this episode Keita discusses how intuition and learning about synesthesia is revolutionary for artists and enhancing your spiritual experience of life and art. Maybe there are no original ideas, but they're certainly are original voices.

In This Episode Keita Discusses:

·       Defining what intuition is and how it works.

·       How life experiences and using all your senses influences the art you make.

·       What is synesthesia and how you can use it as an artist.

·       Stick around to the end of the episode for how to use many different mediums of art so you’re never short of inspiration for your art.

Mentioned in this Episode:

DM Keita, @artbykeita on instagram with a story about your experiences of intuition, synesthesia or how you generate creative ideas.

Don’t forget to leave a review and share with a friend if you found this episode helpful - that way we can reach more painty mamas who would benefit from what we talk about here on the podcast!

Hello, and welcome to the painty mama podcast. We're taught that artists are poor throw kids in the mix and it seems impossible to thrive. While balancing motherhood, creative projects, and building a business along with everything else is hard. I believe the universe gave you your unique talents and children so you could live a full inspiring, creative, beautiful life together. Join me for conversations about creativity, motherhood, business, and finding calm in the chaos. I'm Keita Thomas, and this is the painty mama podcast.

00:39

Hello, lovely, thank you, as always, for being here and for tuning in today. This episode is going to be a little bit different than what we've talked about, it's kind of a little bit deeper, to be honest, we're going to kind of dive into intuition, how your feelings, your senses, your experience of how you interpret the world, in relation to the artwork that you put out there. How that all relates together. And I want to talk about this because it's really important to me, it's a huge part of my process as an artist as a person. And I was really feeling a pull to talk about this subject. It's been on my mind for a couple of weeks now. And I do think that artists (generally speaking, if you're here, you're probably an artist or at least an art appreciator. Most likely a Mum) and we are generally; whether your particular expression of art is through song or writing, or painting, or whatever it is, you're most likely a sensitive person. And that might be a generalization. However, I think it's a pretty obvious one. If you are able to experience the world around you, and then figure out what that is, through your own mind and then export it essentially, to another art form so that you can express how you feel, you usually have to be pretty sensitive in the first place to be able to receive the world in that way. And sensitive people are also usually highly intuitive people. And I have a hunch that if you're still here and listening to this episode, and you haven't turned me off yet, you can probably identify with that, too. And if not, then that is absolutely fine each to their own. This just might not be the episode for you.

02:46

So to start off, I just want to kind of get a definition for what intuition really is. Because I know that a lot of people have a tough time defining exactly what it is. And I think it's because there isn't really any one definition of it, it can come out in lots of different forms, like, let's just give some examples: So moments of premonition where you might be thinking about a friend, or a loved one that you haven't seen for a while and they give you a phone call, and you're like "how did they know I was thinking about them". Or you might get a feeling or a flash of like a deja vu type feeling or a deja vu type vision that hasn't actually happened yet. I'll give you a more specific example of that. So my daughter, my oldest daughter, she was we were getting ready to go outside and I just had this intuitive thought that she was going to hurt her ankle. And I just said to her, "just be careful on your ankle today. Be careful on those stairs, I've just got a feeling that you're going to grow over on it today". And then about 10 minutes later as we're playing outside. Guess what happened? She hurt her ankle. So it's that kind of thing. And yes, there might be an argument for I put that in her head. I don't know if you argue with me, but I've had a lot of experiences like that throughout my life. So for me, it's not really a question. Although I do understand that a lot of people are skeptical about that kind of thing. And with good reason. I think it's healthy to be skeptical too.

04:28

Anyway. So other ways that you can tell if you are intuitive is that you're extremely empathetic and you can often take on other people's emotions quite easily. And I also find that a lot of people can be introverted or feel like they are an introvert, or a side of their personality is introverted. Because of that and maybe you would identify as an empath, or just as, again a sensitive person.

05:00

Another thing that I've seen people have is physical reactions in their bodies and experiences in their bodies, when they're thinking of someone or situation, you're thinking about your auntie and every time you think about her for like the past couple of weeks, you get like a funny feeling in your tummy. And then you find out that she's not told anyone and she's in the hospital for something similar with a pain in a similar area, that kind of thing. And these are subtle in life. But when these kinds of things occur often and constantly, then I think it would be safe to say that that is intuition, or you have a strong sense of intuition. And these are a few, but not all of the examples, because there are a lot of experiences and experiences are just unique to each and every person. But hopefully that gives you an idea. If you're not sure about how it works or what it is or whether or not you're intuitive, maybe some of those things made sense to you and can give you a little bit more clarity around what it is.

06:11

And I wanted to share a little bit of a story with you a little bit of my past. You may or may not (probably not, as I haven't spoken about it here on the podcast much). You may or may not know that I owned and ran a metaphysical business. I owned a shop with my mum. So we sold tools like crystals and books, and bundles of sage, and all kinds of spiritual tools. We did readings, I'm a Reiki Master. So I did Reiki sessions, too, and readings. And I taught workshops on mediumship, meditation and teaching intuitive abilities. So teaching people how to grow and understand their own intuitive abilities. Now, it might sound unrelated to the painty mama podcast. But again, this is a big part of my whole process as an artist. And it all comes into it. Because painting for me is an emotional and spiritual experience. And any kind of artistry is when you're a sensitive person, you need that outlet, I think. And I think its part of the way that we understand and interpret the world. And also to either hear a song back that you've written, or a piece of writing that you've written, or a painting that you've done or dance, when you watch the video back of yourself moving in a certain way. It shows you a deeper understanding of who you are as a person. So it's almost like your art is reflecting a piece of yourself or a piece of your journey or your understanding of life, politics, whatever is the content of what you make is reflecting an understanding of something back at you, as you're creating it, and also as you're looking at it afterwards or listening to it afterwards.

08:12

So a few years ago, I realized, as I was teaching, I can't remember if it was like something I googled, or I don't know how it came up. But it was towards the end of when we decided to close that business. So we ran that business for I think it was three years, just over three years. And what we were teaching is really close to what's described as synesthesia, which I had never heard about before. But when I started reading about it, it's defined as "the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body". So basically, I mean, you might have heard of this before, but the kind of broad definition is like, you might have heard of people that see music as colors. And I don't do that. It's not like as soon as a song comes on, I'm like, "I can see Rainbows, and I can't concentrate on driving", anything like that. But I do feel like we all have that innate ability, that innate intuition, to be able to feel and see things when we're reacting to a piece of art or music. if it stirs you in some way and there's like a thought that comes with it. So anyway, I think that synesthesia kind of encompasses everything and it's something I wanted to talk about because it helped me to look at the way that I kind of self-inspire, when it comes to my creativity and it helped me to branch out a little bit in my thought processes and also understand myself a bit more.

10:03

So, when I was back in the shop on a night when we would be holding workshops, I'd be teaching a healing class, for example. And I'd be asking the student, as they've got their hands over in a Reiki position, I'd be asking them just gently like "what colors do you see?", "what symbols are coming to your mind when you're hovering over that part of the body?", "What do you see? Do you hear anything? Is there any feeling in your body that's shifting as you're laying your hands over the top of somebody else's body?" So "are there any physical feelings and emotional feelings that come up?" and teaching them how to figure out and put words to - what it was that they were intuiting. And that is a really accurate, proper way to do a reading. And the industry's changed now. It's all good. I'm so glad that there's more acceptance and more knowledge around everything to do with what I usually will lightly call "woo woo". But to be honest, for me, it's not a light thing. It's a big part of who I am. And it's something that I've been really passionate about for... Well, a very long time since I was about 13, doing tarot readings from my friends at sleepovers. Anyway, I don't want to go into that that's a chat for another day, or another place or a different podcast.

11:31

But when I came across this idea, this "aha" moment of synesthesia, and it being basically a huge part of my spirituality, and how I interpret messages from the universe, God, spirit guides, whatever you believe - this is not denominational. And I also think that if you believe in a higher power, it doesn't matter what we call it, it's all the same. It's all "oneness" or, you know, there's a million different labels that essentially mean the same thing. And it's a connection to something that's a higher power. And it's also how I feel connected to art.

12:13

So how a painting can move you, if you've ever stood in a gallery and looked at a painting and thought, "wow", like you've got a reaction from it. Or if you've listened to a song, and it's completely lifted your mood, or it's changed your mood, what is it actually moving if it's not an emotion or an energy? I found that knowing this is expanded my art practice and the ways I find creative sources immensely. And it's why I wanted to share it with you even though I feel extremely vulnerable sitting here, talking about it on this platform, I do feel like it's important, and it has helped me, and I literally said in my last episode, I don't ever want to share any fluff here, I just want to share things that genuinely help. And I think that this has really helped me with my understanding of self and being a creative person in the world. So that definition of synesthesia, you can apply that to all different art forms. If you think about it this way.... just, like, go with me, follow me down this path for a minute... If a poem was a painting, a poem was a painting. So if you think about a poem, that you know, even one that you don't particularly like, just one that, you know, one that springs to mind, if that poem was a painting, what would it be of what colors would it have? What shapes? If a painting was a song? And this has been done? So many times? How many times have you seen a book be turned into a movie or vice versa? It's a shift of medium. And it's a shift of the way that people interpret things. And it's the same message with a different voice layered on top. But it emotes things and art is always there to emote something. And even if somebody doesn't, you know, like the book, they might love the movie, they might absolutely detest a sketch that somebody does of it and go, "that's not the way the character looks in my head at all". But something will connect with them. And it's about drawing people in and the different human experiences we can have of essentially the same creative source.

14:39

So what if a song was a story? or a play? or a song was a drawing? or a sketch? or graphic design? So I hope you know where I'm going with this. And if you're feeling a bit dried up or not, not even dry, really, but if you feel an urge to create something new. Say you're an artist like me, and you can't think of anything to draw, or you're like focusing in tunnel vision on, "I need to think of something visual that I need to come up with, I need a visual idea". Because you're thinking that the output needs to be visual. But the input doesn't need to be visual, the thought doesn't have to be visual, like the starting point. And if you pay attention to your intuitive nudges, like, is there a song that you keep hearing on the radio? Is there a book or a movie that you keep thinking about or something on Netflix that you watched? And there's a scene that keeps playing in your head and you don't really know why you thinking about it? Just humor me here. Again, I know I'm asking a lot today! But humor me, and just give it a try.

15:59

Just give this a try. Close your eyes. And just let your mind go to "if that piece of inspiration, (whatever it is that you're probably thinking about right now). If it was a color, what would it be? If it was a shape? What would it be? A texture, a story?" Just try it and see what happens, 'cause I know something will. If you've followed me to the end of this episode, and this sounds like you, you'll never ever be sure of any inspiration. You'll never be short of something to say. You'll never be short of feeling connected with the world in what you're putting out. Because maybe there are no original ideas, but they're certainly are original voices.

Thanks so much for listening lovely. I hope this episode gave you some food for thought. A little creative nibble maybe! If it did get some juices going then please let me know by sending me a DM on Instagram @artbykeita. And you can also find me at KeitaThomas.com. And I've also got a brand-new domain of artbykeita.com so you just have to remember the one thing now! - it's just a bit easier to remember my weird first name then.

 I know that this episode isn't everybody's cup of tea and honestly, I've mentioned it a few times; I felt pretty tentative about sharing it. But I had an intuitive nudge that was niggling at me to talk about this. And as you now know, I fully follow my intuition in life and in an art and I believe it comes from a force much more insightful and wise than my own human self. So I hope this helped you. Have a feeling that it will and until next time, have an inspiring cross-pollination-of-ideas and acting-on-Creative-impulses kind of a week.