“Finding your way as you go” is not so much a specific method of working, but a way of thinking. It asks us to entertain the idea that we might have a better solution to a challenge when we can actually see it. We often try to visualize what we are going to do before we have done it. We do this with abstract work just as easily as representational art. If we are always five steps ahead, then we are not fully present with our work.

Allow the experience of what you are making presently to influence what you begin next. You will be a different person by the time you get to step five of your painting, which will, if you let it, positively affect the next steps. You simply cannot clearly see that far down the road until you have turned a few corners. Try holding off imagining, preparing, worrying about what you might find there. Instead, simply wait until you are actually there. You just might be surprised how curiosity, surprise and wonder can influence your art.