THE ART OF INTUITION

For Wilmette artist Diane Rakocy, painting is an intuitive journey into beauty, self-discovery, and the internal landscape.

Brilliant butterflies fly above a field of blue iris. A little russet bird peeks through the leaves of luminous trees. Rainbow fish swim, sunflowers dazzle, and elephants stride. As if lit from within, the paintings show the brilliance of artist Diane Rakocy’s distinctive way of seeing.

When people ask where she finds inspiration, “What they really want to know is, ‘How do I see what I see?’” says Rakocy. Her answer: “By trusting my intuition.”

The response may surprise people, but it reflects the contemplative process that guides her work.

“Spirituality is an enormous part of my work,” she explains. “It is not something I ‘add’ to my work; it is the work itself—the core of my process.”

Painting, says Rakocy, is where she connects not only with herself, but with the ineffable.

“Someone once told me that the spirit world is just trying to take form in art,” she says. “And I believe that. Painting is what I use to take me to a quieter place, where I can listen, trust my intuition, and allow what wants to come through.”

As a child in a small town in Michigan, “I loved creating all sorts of things,” she recalls. “But my family members weren’t creatives, and as for pursuing a career in art? Definitely not.”

And so, in her 20s, with advanced degrees and a job in the Chicago business world, Rakocy felt unmoored and unhappy.

“My soul just needed to make art,” she says.

Desperate for respite, Rakocy took her first art class with a watercolor instructor in Lincoln Park.

“I absolutely fell in love with painting,” she reflects. “It was just so fun to be doing it. I learned so much, and painting reconnected me to that part of myself that I had lost for so long. It was as if suddenly I had permission through painting to see the world in my own unique way.”

After a whole series of art classes, Rakocy’s skills progressed, and she began to trust herself and her process.

A world traveler, she spent years overseas in Tokyo, London, Beijing, and Singapore, with each of her three children born in a different country. Reflecting this love for travel, her work carries emotions and impressions from many places around the globe.

But the paintings aren’t meant to be purely representational.

“I’ll never forget something that happened during my first solo exhibition in Tokyo,” she says. “The show featured a series of big, vibrant cityscapes. Viewing them, this gentleman came up and said, ‘I can tell how much you love this city from your work.’ That comment stayed with me. It made me realize that my painting was more about communicating feeling and energy than literal interpretations of people, places, plants, or animals.”

That philosophy still informs her process today.

Facing the canvas, Rakocy often begins by painting words or intentions directly on it. From there, she’ll freely add colors, brushstrokes, and textures layer upon layer as she works.

“In the beginning, it may look like a big mess. I add layers and layers of paint with no particular direction involved. But then, it’s almost like a Rorschach: I’ll step back and see something emerging. Then I just get out of my own way to pull that forward and develop it.”

As she progresses, Rakocy intentionally leaves many of the previous layers in place.

“It’s really metaphorical for life,” she observes. “You don’t remove the challenges and missteps; they become a part of you. And you can’t see the lights without the darks being there too. In the same way, even if I paint over something, every mark in my work becomes part of the finished painting.”

Further, Rakocy believes that beauty exists at the core of everything. It’s just a matter of looking for it and following inner guidance to find it.

“I’ve always felt this way, but like most of us, I didn’t always live that way. It’s easy to let life get in the way so that we forget to stop and see the beauty that is all around us.”

Her advice to those at the beginning of their painting odyssey?

“Just do it. Do it a lot. Study with as many teachers as you can. Experiment. Don’t worry about doing it correctly. Instead, give yourself permission to be imperfect and to not care what anybody else thinks. Eventually, you will find your own style and will learn to truly trust yourself and know that if it comes from within you, it’s worth exploring.”

Rakocy knows whereof she speaks.

“I spent a lot of years listening to what others wanted me to be,” she says. “So, when I started painting, I was always looking outside for direction rather than trusting my intuition. Part of self-discovery is learning that you can’t really embody who you are until you make the shift to trusting that inner self.”

Sharing this wisdom, Rakocy has taught art in workshops overseas, and she’ll soon be bringing that creative energy closer to home with a new studio in downtown Wilmette.

“Opening the studio is very exciting and a big leap for me,” she says. “It will be my working studio and gallery to show my work. But I also want it to be a creative space for the community—a place for local artist pop-ups, classes, workshops, and other creative happenings. I’m excited to see what it becomes.”

For information, visit dianerakocy.com and inspirewilmette.com.