Over there, to the side of this post, is the result of my first exercise. It looks like a jumble of vaguely circular lines all running around with no purpose. I think it was supposed to look like that.
The exercise was, as my son's pretty girlfriend informed me, "your standard blind drawing." Yepper, that's what it was. With some really good information included. Of course the book didn't just say: "Go make a blind drawing". The authors explained the purpose of the exercise and gave some parameters.
Apparently it takes a good bit of time for your right brain to click in. You know, it's like your stomach. No matter what you eat, your stomach doesn't send your brain a message that you ate it for something like 20 minutes. So if you wolf all your food your brain says "Hey, Babe, keep on eating...you haven't taken a bite yet!" That's why one of the perennial "secrets" of dieting is to eat slowly. Chew each little bite a long, long time.
And that's how this blind drawing was supposed to be. I was supposed to take a specific length of time to draw a grouping of fruit. It was a long time. A very, very long time. I didn't make it.
My drawing was done. All the lines were drawn. I hadn't looked yet, but I could tell from where my eyes were that I had covered all the bases. So I did it again. And again. The next two didn't look so good. They are little, scrunched things that look like the lines are trying to hide down in one corner. Probably ashamed of having been drawn so quickly.
I don't know if my right brain kicked in. Maybe it did. Maybe my left brain had a panic attack and told it to back off and go away. Maybe my right brain told my left brain to shut up and then got to work really fast. Because I've always been able to work fast. I swear I drew all the lines. I kept the drawing out of sight the whole time. I was not careful. I was not thoughtful, I was ... feelingful and intuitive. Really
Okay, that's out of the way. Now I can get on to something important.
I'm beginning to sense that this may be a bit of an uphill battle.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Right Brain Quilter
I am a quilt maker. Not a great quilt maker, but a dedicated one. Making quilts allows me to indulge my true passion in life: buying fabric. I love fabric. All fabric. All colors and textures and designs. So I make quilts. Over the last couple years I've gained enough experience to put together a passable quilt. But each one I make leaves me just a little bit less satisfied.
I race through each project until I get it finally quilted, bound, labeled and -- often -- out the door. Or folded and put away. I can follow many patterns. Although I usually have to change something. I have learned to avoid the kinds of quilts that frustrate me and that I will not take the time to do properly. I will never make a quilt of stunning precision or one with breathtaking needle work. Ever. So I'm moving on to something else.
That "something" is a book I inherited from a friend -- "Color and
Composition" by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker. It's an
incredible book that talks about waking up your right brain. Not that
my left brain is truly awake, but that's another book.
The book is filled with exercises and the authors say at the outset that if
you don't intend to do the exercises, just put the book down as it
won't do you any good. Now,I never do the exercises in the quilting books I buy. I look at the pretty pictures, pull out an idea or borrow an inspiration, then I put the book back on the shelf. This time I'm going to do it differently. This time I'm going to put all my pending projects in a little box and I'm going to do nothing but the exercises in this book until I've done them all. I want to be better. I want to be more creative. I really want to find MY way and stop copying others. And I want to be able to make what I see in my head.
So I'm going to take some time out to learn. Maybe it won't do a
darned thing to help me. But I don't think it can hurt. The tablecloth
can wait. My sister's wall hanging can wait. My friend's grandson's crib quilt can wait. I'm going to just learn for a while. Should have done that at the start instead of jumping into the middle of this thing. Well.... no time like the present.
I am going to be very careful not to violate copyright. I will try to describe roughly what I'm doing and will post the photo of the finished "product". I would be so excited if others bought this book and worked through the exercises at the same time. What a hoot! We could post links to each others' work and share the experience.
So the journey has begun. If you're laughing or pondering the "art" on the page, it's my illustration of the two sides of my brain. As you can see, it's going to be a long road. I think it will be run. Come on back and watch me wind my way through the learning process. I'll try to have some interesting bits and bobs about brains along the way. And I promise, that illustration at the top of the blog will change.
It's going to take me a couple of days to get started. But by later this week I should have something to post. Cya then.
I race through each project until I get it finally quilted, bound, labeled and -- often -- out the door. Or folded and put away. I can follow many patterns. Although I usually have to change something. I have learned to avoid the kinds of quilts that frustrate me and that I will not take the time to do properly. I will never make a quilt of stunning precision or one with breathtaking needle work. Ever. So I'm moving on to something else.
That "something" is a book I inherited from a friend -- "Color and
Composition" by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker. It's an
incredible book that talks about waking up your right brain. Not that
my left brain is truly awake, but that's another book.
The book is filled with exercises and the authors say at the outset that if
you don't intend to do the exercises, just put the book down as it
won't do you any good. Now,I never do the exercises in the quilting books I buy. I look at the pretty pictures, pull out an idea or borrow an inspiration, then I put the book back on the shelf. This time I'm going to do it differently. This time I'm going to put all my pending projects in a little box and I'm going to do nothing but the exercises in this book until I've done them all. I want to be better. I want to be more creative. I really want to find MY way and stop copying others. And I want to be able to make what I see in my head.
So I'm going to take some time out to learn. Maybe it won't do a
darned thing to help me. But I don't think it can hurt. The tablecloth
can wait. My sister's wall hanging can wait. My friend's grandson's crib quilt can wait. I'm going to just learn for a while. Should have done that at the start instead of jumping into the middle of this thing. Well.... no time like the present.
I am going to be very careful not to violate copyright. I will try to describe roughly what I'm doing and will post the photo of the finished "product". I would be so excited if others bought this book and worked through the exercises at the same time. What a hoot! We could post links to each others' work and share the experience.
So the journey has begun. If you're laughing or pondering the "art" on the page, it's my illustration of the two sides of my brain. As you can see, it's going to be a long road. I think it will be run. Come on back and watch me wind my way through the learning process. I'll try to have some interesting bits and bobs about brains along the way. And I promise, that illustration at the top of the blog will change.
It's going to take me a couple of days to get started. But by later this week I should have something to post. Cya then.
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