Wednesday, January 27, 2010

a little to the left.....and, i feel funny inside.....

ever feel a little scrambled up?  head a bit like a cotton ball?  looking for clarity and can't find it?  a few years ago i took a class by theo ellsworth at artfest.  love that guy.  he had cut out these head shapes and then prompted us to use our imaginations.  at one point he suggested we draw with our opposite hand.  for me that is my left hand.  we were to learn to not fear our own imagination; to just let them rip.......-- my imagination, hand and pen did things on their own.  they did not wait for me, my instructional over thinking self, to catch them.    from random lines came houses, the alphabet, roads, maps, lots of stuff cramped into the head and shoulder space.   i felt totally free because i was not using my drawing hand.  therefore i was not using my mentally controlled hand.   try it sometime.   it has a surprising effect, both in actual practice as in the drawing experience and in looking inside yourself.  things lurk in there that you had no idea could be there.
the results of this drawing session were a total surprise to me.  imagine that.

4 comments:

icandy... said...

How cool are you, Lisa??!!
I need to give this a try~ I crave... thinking outside of the box! Did you know somehow that I was in a slump??? :) This might be just the change I need!
Thank you for keeping me on my toes!
OXOXOX
Christina

Lisa Bebi said...

ah, icandy, really it is a great thing to try - and i loved it that in Theo's class when he played really bizarre music - it helped the meditation.
it's a really cool thing to do: outsmart that ugly voice in our heads that tell us our art is no good, that inner critic. the inner critic can be so stifling - the inner critic should be bypassed every once in a while in order to expand our horizons. my opin.

Buffy said...

This is so neat,I'm loving all the colors.
My inner critic is a tough cookie,maybe I should try this to her who's boss.(Right now she is).

Jacky said...

what a great idea, I think we all internalise way to much and block our creative side. Turned out pretty damn great didn't it. Must try it.

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