On planning versus intuition

Is it unhelpful to know what you’re doing when creating art, and is it actually possible to know exactly what you’ve done?

This is a really good question and it entirely depends on one's process and desires. Some people are more open in their personality traits and this makes them more likely to want to experiment and not predict or control results, whereas others are more apt to want to predict and control outcomes. I would argue that knowing what you are doing is a good thing, even when wanting to be spontaneous, being conscious of your process can be helpful. If you reach the end of the process and have no idea what you did then that is not entirely helpful.

There is a phrase used in learning that describes phases of learning where one can be UNconsciously INcompetent, Consciously INcompetent, Consciously Competent or UN-Consciously Competent. Whether you are aware of things you are doing, assimilating knowledge from a learned skill or are totally unaware of your process, it is at least helpful to know which of these you are.

It is possible to know what you have done but only by engaging the pre-frontal cortex (your executive function), this is a mindful approach to performing a task. Acting purely from the subconscious will result in a hypnotic state whereby access to memory is compromised. Therefore, recollection really needs to be intentional from the start of the process or process increments may be lost.