I started reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I checked it out from the library before about twenty years ago but nothing I’m reading now is ringing any bells. I’ve been pretty inspired by chapter 3 where she talks about the right and left sides of the brain as well as being right and left handed. Apparently, when she wrote the book in the 70’s, the knowledge that the right and left hemispheres of the brain correspond to different ways of thinking and perceiving the world was new. The left side of the brain is verbal, analytic, and sequential, while the right side is visual, perceptual, and simultaneous.
Later in the chapter she shares that in several languages the word left has a negative connotation while the word right has a positive connotation. In latin, the word for left is sinister, meaning ‘bad’, ‘ominous’, or ‘treacherous’. The latin word for right is dexter, which comes from the word ‘dexterity’, meaning ‘skill’, or ‘adroitness’. In french left is gauche, meaning ‘awkward’, and right is droit, meaning ‘good’, ‘just’, and ‘proper’. She reminds the reader that the right hand is connected to the left hemisphere - visual, perceptual, and simultaneous - while the left hand is connected to the right hemisphere - verbal, analytic, and sequential.
All this got me thinking about something that has plagued me my entire life. Why do we as a species prefer men over women? Masculine over feminine? Math and science over art and music? Why do we prefer things that are concrete rather than ‘woo-woo’? It’s as if for millennia we have held the beliefs that a) there are two opposite forces in nature, and b) one is good and the other is bad. And it’s not hard to miss. Even today we still seem to feel negative feelings towards women which is most obvious in politics.
Reading this book is helping me get clearer on what’s missing for me in my work. I am not entirely letting go of my left brain, my analytical side, when I’m painting. It’s a struggle. In other areas of my life it’s easier for me to let go. I feel as if I’m much more creative when it comes to my home and creating a comfortable atmosphere to live in. Most people who come over to help with a repair are taken aback by all my artwork and how my house is decorated. I’ve had friends say they want to curl up somewhere and stay, forever.
I want to find that kind of freedom with painting. I want to feel that level of ease. It’s like a care-free feeling. I’m like the adolescents she describes in the book: totally obsessed with creating a ‘likeness’. I’m not letting myself create like a young child does. I’m trying to make something that I think others will understand. I’m more focused on the message than with expressing myself. This is a huge insight. I have no idea how to move forward right now, but seeing this feels like some kind of crossroads.