But I Don´t Plan to be an Artist!



Nude sketch by Marilyn Diggs

 As we have seen in the last few blogs, the key to learning to draw is to set up conditions  that cause you to make a mental shift to the RIGHT side of the brain.  By following what you SEE ( lines, angles, shapes, spaces) rather than what the logical LEFT side KNOWS, you improve your drawing.  Betty Edward´s book - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, will take you through more exercises.


 For instance, I started drawing this nude by scribbling a black oval. Next, I filled in the grey spaces, then the white, taking care not to name what I was drawing. I just dealt with the shapes I was seeing. I did not start with a  line drawing of a nude.


How do we know we are in the right side of the brain?


I used to set up my easel and paint in a nearby park on Wednesdays. On one occassion the day was cold, but that didn´t stop me. Standing on my feet for 5 hours straight, I diligently worked until a drizzle turned to rain that ran all over my  wooden palette. When I stopped, I then realized that I was chilled to the bone and it was indeed impossible to continue mixing paint. I glanced around. No one was in the park anymore. I glanced down at my watch. Unbelievable. What seemed to me to have been a short time on location, had actually been hours.


What happened? When we go into the right side of the brain, we enter into a slightly altered state of awareness.  You might say we feel "transported", or "at one with the work." Our surroundings become secondary.  We begin to grasp relationsips that ordinarily we can´t grasp. We have no awareness of time passage. It is hard to speak to others. We feel alert, yet relaxed ( and who wouldn´t...the over-worked verbal and analytic LEFT side has been resting!).


Have you been there? Probably. Perhaps you have had these experiences when day-dreaming, meditating, jogging, typing at the computer, listening to music or reading.


OK? So what if drawing doesn´t interest you?  Well-known author Daniel H. Pink in his book A Whole New Mind - Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age says," Our ability to activate this right hemisphere capacity has become more urgent as we transition out of the Information Age." In short, creativity is a hot commodity these days! ( By the way, he took Betty Edward´s course.)


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