dolphins_log

Spring arrives.

Shadows of Midsummer Night's Dream...
A soft choral of frogs.  
A passing of a warm wind.
The smell of trees and warm earth, sweet pollen of blooms, fill the air.
Music, soft and familiar, pulls at memories.
An image of a paint brush...
An idea for a story...
Creativity blooms with the growing green.
Thoughts grow form with the  Midsummer Night's Dream.

.

Something interesting happened at the gym.  A crayon mark on the locker wall caught my eye.  It wasn't a special mark.  It wasn't in the shape of Jesus or Mary, and it wasn't weeping.  It wasn't even graffiti.  It was just a random line in red crayon.  But it got me briefly into the mind set of drawing.  ...that  in the zone  feeling that Betty Edwards calls "The right side of the Brain".   I ... think I hear the drawing room calling. 

Aaaaaanyway...  today was to be a day to get things done.  

While I didn't get everything on my list done, I got the important things out of the way.
Haircut.
Valentines Day Gifts stashed.
Workout at the gym.
Bills paid.
DInner prepared for.

Waited on hold with credit card company for 45 minutes.   Last month they said they were sending me a new card with a different number.   No fraud on the current card and I could use it until the new one arrived.  It hasn't been mailed yet.  They just now put in the order for it.

At least it will be good for our trip to the Ocean at the end of the month.   And for Dinner at Anthony's tomorrow Night.

I've mentioned that I've been working through Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Actually the title is now "The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". One of the things I've discovered is that I'm not the same "beginner" as I was when I first went through the book back in the early 80's.

The first exercises is to draw 3 pre-instruction images. One is a self portrait seen in a mirror. Two is to draw someone else from memory. [miko2 I have a picture of you which you will likely never see.] The third is a drawing of your non dominant hand. We're supposed to set these aside and compare them to drawings we do after going through the book.

The examples in the book are more in line with my 1980s pictures, where many "hurry up" symbols for images step in. Things like round head, almond eyes near the top, a crumpled "U" shape for the nose, perhaps you get the idea.
My 2006 pictures show that I have, indeed, left a lot of those symbols behind. Some of it has returned as I haven't practiced. I've never practiced. That's some, if not all, of my problems with drawing. But the fact that I "Do" know how to shift my way of thinking and I "do" know how to "See"... All of that is very promising.

Why am I going through the book again after 25 years? One, the book is updated. It's got some new things in it. One of the first things I've found that made me say "Ah Ha!" was that she's acknowledged two other levels of learning. That's drawing from memory and drawing from imagination. My frustration with those two aspects has kept me from pushing forward with art. Here she says that those two are beyond the first steps of learning. [stating the obvious? Sometimes we need the obvious stated.]
The second reason I'm doing this now is because I have the time. I've pulled back from non-work and I'm focusing on the "Next" in my life.
The third reason is that these techniques in drawing, or shifting the way you think, can be transferred into many many other walks of life. So the third reason is extremely philosophical in nature.

My day has been spent reading and drawing. It's been a good day.