Right Brain vs Left Brain – Another drawing
This weeks Everyday Matters Challenge was to draw something from the previous year’s challenges that I hadn’t yet done. This was easy as I only started a few months back. I chose: Challenge #15 – Draw a tree or trees, leaves or branches.
During lunch time I drew this plant that sits next to my cube, it’s probably a tree so I think it counts. It’s absolutely pathetic and was in the pile to be thrown out but a coworker rescued it and gave it to me. It leans against the wall as it is in desperate need of repotting, and probably watering.
This is the view of the plant while sitting in my cube. For those that haven’t seen the more detailed picture of my cube you can see it in this post. It’s a lovely place.
Cube Plant © 2005 11″ x 8.5″
This drawing was a challenge of the right vs. the left brain. I started off fine drawing the pot and trying not to worry about perfection. I drew the trunk and then
…panic!!!
Eek – how to draw all those crazy leaves. Left brain kicked in and said “are you insane, read a book or take a class”.
So I took a break and did some work.
When I came back to it I decided to bail out and do a semi blind contour drawing for the leaves and be happy with that. Right brain can do that, although I still had the left brain enter into the conversation a bit and try to correct things. Hard to keep the left brain out of the office.
Next thing I know the sun comes out and I’ve got serious shadows. I attempt to capture them, panic again, and well – you can see the results.
I bailed out of fixing shadows, drew the whiteboard on the wall and called it good enough for today.
I’m kinda pleased, but now I see all sorts of things I could improve on. It’s interesting how different the drawing looks scanned and on the computer screen instead of on paper.
It’s really time to read a book. I think I bought “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” 5 or 6 years ago. Time to see if it’s still around. Has anyone gone through the exercises in this book? Is it a good way to learn?
Posted by Lisa in: Drawings
THIS is GREAT!! Oh, how I can relate to the process!! And shadows! Mercy, I tend to ‘overlook’ them because I haven’t quite mastered how to make them look a bit more realistic. I think you’re well on your way! I love sketching trees — and yes, the leaves are a REAL challenge! But you’ve done very very well!
Lisa, yes, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a great book. I used it to re-educate myself on perspective and found I could follow it so much better than the more analytical approach used in academic classes.
You’ve got some great lines in the drawing – the soft edge of the trunk of the tree and the “leaves”.
You are being way to critical of yourself! I like the drawing – even the leaves!! I think I will look into the Everyy day Matters thingy.
This made me laugh, because I go through the same kind of panic every time. You’ve done well! I have resolved to go back to Drawing on the Right Side in 2006. I didn’t finish it the first time, but even then it helped me a lot.
Lisa, it’s a super drawing, I know how you feel about all those leaves though! Drawing on the Right Side is a really good book, I wish I had discovered it years ago.
Lisa,
I’m glad you took the challenge and I can see that you did a fine job. Don’t over analyze it, just draw lots and lots. Before you know it you’ll be ready for faces. Don’t panic!
Karen
This tree is great — really! The trick is to do just what you did — draw what you see. If you look, you’ll notice that if you hadn’t put the shadows in, we wouldn’t have known at all that the pot was away from the wall and the tree leaned into the wall; now we can see that clearly and the drawing makes sense. This is a fabulous job!
Thank all for the positive comments. I’ll keep going.
I found my copy of Drawing the Right side of the Brain and start working through it. Thanks for the recommendations!
I relate so much to your right brain vs left brain conflicts. when one is in RB mode everything goeshunky dory and thenLB kicks in and all hell is let loose! So frustrating. I love what you’ve done though.
MD