Jo's Old Site

Brenda’s fourth art lesson is titled “faces and a vase” and it made very interesting reading as in this lesson we learn about how our brain functions as Brenda rightly says that our brains are our most important tool. And to get the best out of our drawings we need to understand how the left and right hemisphere works as an artist needs to use both sides when drawing. I also learnt in this lesson that our right brain allows us to see abstract connections between lines, shapes, and spaces. Also the right brain also helps out when we are trying to get proportions. We are also using our right brain when we plan our compositions instinctively and we can concentrate and block out distractions so well that we may lose track of time.

Then how is the left brain important to artists? Well, the primary functions of the left brain Brenda says is being able to think logically, and mathematically. As the left brain allows the artist to calculate when we are trying to establish proportions by measuring distances. We can also name the sections that we draw too and are able to keep track of time frames. Also Brenda explains the difference between people who are left brain dominant to people who are right brain dominant, as people who are more left brain can look at clouds and all they see is clouds while people who are more right brain see shapes and can identify images that appear in clouds. Also I have read that writing is like a muscle, and the more we spend time on reading and writing the stronger the muscle gets and like with writing I think the same is true with anything we do, all we need to do is establish routines and develop our concentration and patience and this means choosing to spend time on whatever we want to do.