9/21

During our last class we practiced drawing what we saw instead of what we thought. We learned that we need to ignore what the left side of our brain is telling us and we must draw with the right side. The left side tries to make us draw what we learned objects look like. For example when children draw people they typically draw stick figures. This is because that is what they were taught people look like. This is what we are trying to get away from in class. We used viewfinders to select a specific area of space. This let us see the space around the object as shapes and try to draw this instead of drawing the object. The object would then be drawn by the outline of the shapes.


For the reading assignment I read about the shift from the left to the ride side of the brain and did drawing activities to go with it. It was very interesting how I could actually sense my brain switching sides. I could feel my left side relaxing and letting my right side take over. It wasn't hard for my right side to take over, it actually seemed quite natural which was contradictory to what the article said happens for most people. It felt very good and relaxing. I did the drawings right after I got out of yoga class so I was already very calm. This probably helped the switch of my brain. The reading taught me about pure contour drawing and modified contour drawing. While doing my pure contour drawing i was very relaxed and actually really surprised myself with how well the finished product looked. However after my first pure contour drawing they started to get worse. I believe this happened because I got somewhat distracted because I was outside and after my first one a lot of people were walking past me. I was very impressed by my modified contour drawing. Since I was able to occasionally look at the page I was able to place details in the correct spots but I still made sure that I drew with my eyes instead of my mind. The finished product looks better then I would have ever thought it would. During my modified contour drawing I was still very relaxed and rather than feeling frustrated I felt very accomplished. 


Questions:
1. In class we all drew parts of the same object from all different perspectives. This produced many different views of the same object. Do you think that if we all drew the same thing from the exact same perspective there would still be a lot of variation in the final product or would they all be exactly the same?
2. How did the switch from left to right brain sides feel for everyone else in the class? Did it just feel natural or was it difficult? Did anyone get headaches like the article said may happen?


After doing some reading I have discovered that the left side and right side of our brains are connected by the corpus collosum, a thick cable of nerves. As I already knew, the right side of your brain controls creativity while the left side controls logical thinking. Many children rank highly creative before they enter school but much of this creativity is lost during grade school due to emphasis on left brain functions. In adulthood only 2% of the population remains highly creative. Our left brain constantly fights our right brain because it doesn't understand the thought processes that the right brain uses. Typically during day to day life one side of the brain controls our consciousness. This is usually won by the left side of the brain. There are ways to eliminate thought processes from the left side of the brain such as meditation and blocking sensory input. This lets our imagination wander until the left side wakes up.




Source:
http://viewzone2.com/bicamx.html