Art Teaching

Drawing: Techniques and Expression – Let the Hand Do What the Eye Likes.

A picture is worth a thousand words

To draw well, we need to know what we are doing and expect the unexpected. We need both techniques and expression: technique can help us make the most of inspiration and surprises.

There is a theory of right brain and left brain drawing in which we use different sides or aspects of our brains for to react and process information. Another view is that right brain activity is task positive (learning, sticking to a task, mastering techniques, problem solving) and left brain activity is task negative (daydreams, memories, fantasies, unrelated thoughts…the “resting brain”). Yet another, and more scientific, way of thinking of it is that the right hemisphere with its capacity for taking a broad view - making and understanding symbols and metaphor guides the more task-focused right hemisphere, and that we need to use both sides of the brain for any successful engagement with the world. It is my observation and feeling that we need both for successful, beautiful, expressive drawings.

I teach this class at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Art School.