by Penelope P
Have you ever felt that you could be doing more with your brain?聽
You might be right. It is highly likely that if you have not been trained in drawing, half of your brain has probably not been activated. In our current education system, the focus on left-brain functions 鈥� such as speech, comprehension, arithmetic, and writing – takes place very early. The right brain, where creativity, artistic and musical skills are governed – does not get the same attention.
Learning drawing switches it on.
When you draw, you learn to see things differently. You become more engaged with your surroundings. The act of drawing is a life skill that effects every aspect of your life 鈥� including memory, planning, strategy. You find a delight you never had before, in the colours and shapes around you. It is about learning how to have fun – even if there is no one there to have it with. Drawing teaches you how to design visually and concentrate deeply.
Drawing appears in all kinds of fields, as an essential tool in visualisation 鈥� think of architecture, computing, engineering, design, navigation. Like sport, drawing is physical and takes practice and development. If you put an hour a day into it, you can learn the basics in 12 weeks. A simple drawing kit needn鈥檛 be expensive 鈥� for under 20 dollars you can equip yourself.
Before you start to draw, the first thing to do is to go online, or to the art history section in your local library, and look at paintings and drawings by classical and modern artists. Try artists like Picasso, Klee, Hilma af Klimt, Emile Bernard, Rosa Bonheur, Degas, Munch and some of the classics like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt. Have a look at graffiti and street art. Go down the rabbit hole of gallery collections online and begin to curate your own gallery.
As you look, decide which ones you are drawn to and inspired by. Consider what emotion you feel when you look at it. What do you think the artist is trying to say? Are they successful? What does the artwork say about the way the artist saw the world, and life?
From the artists you like, consider 鈥� do you think he or she believed in God or nature? Love? That life was happy or unhappy? Did they like or dislike authority? Loved or hated the world? Drawing is your personal perspective on the world. It is unique to you, and to what you see.
When you are going to sleep, try a visualisation that will start to switch on your 鈥榙rawing brain鈥�, using all of the colours, from Red to Ultra-Violet. Imagine yourself travelling on a silver escalator, traveling down into a room that is bathed deeply in colour, one after the other. Do this slowly: picture the room is entirely each colour in your favourite hue, and fully immerse yourself, as you move gently upon the silver escalator to one room, to the next escalator, to the next room. Allow yourself to completely experience the sensation, in pure colour.
We will explore these ideas together further, in the next newsletter.
