Seeing

“Perception changes when we ‘see’. The magic of life becomes more acute in ways that foster awareness with gratitude.”  Janessa Bookout, Artist

January signifies chapter one of a brand, new year. What do you want to manifest this year? What dreams do you have?  What adventures await you? Perhaps you hear an inner voice calling you to try something new, something that will challenge you in ways that show you, teach you more about yourself. 

 A couple of years ago I got into art as an enjoyable hobby creating collages and abstracts. Then after spending a week in the majesty of the red rock canyons in Moab, Utah I was inspired to try and realistically paint the landscape. I wanted to capture and never forget the way I felt in the presence of such rugged, wild beauty. As I attempted the painting, I soon realized that I needed more training. How do you paint a sky? How do you create the illusion of depth and dimension?

I’ve told myself my entire life that I don’t have the talent to draw.  Yet, my desire to know how to express myself through realistic art won out over those haunting beliefs. I hired an art coach and began my 2023 challenge!

In her book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards explains that anyone can learn to draw. It’s not about talent. Learning perceptual skills, not drawing skills, that quiet the left brain’s verbal and analytical functions promotes right brain intuitive seeing abilities- lines, shapes, spaces.    

One of the first brain changing exercises that Janessa, my art coach,

gave me was drawing my face blind without looking at the paper. Well, if I needed proof of how terrible I was, this was it. When I peeked at my drawing, the lines on the paper didn’t at all resemble a face. I kept trying with similar results. Ugh! Janessa told me that I would get better as I trained my right brain eye. “It’s not about what it looks like,” she explained. The urge to give up hounded me.

Here is where I had to dig deep. I accepted my fear and judgment as being part of the process of learning something new. In order to keep going I realized that I had to trust the process and allow it to be what it was even without the expectation that I would get better.  As I relaxed and let go of negative thinking, I began to welcome what I might learn about ‘seeing’ from a new and different perspective.

After some more blind and upside-down drawing exercises, I sat at my desk yesterday with the assignment to draw my hand. I focused on the lines, the shadows, the spacing between the fingers. I went slowly.  I observed where the lines didn’t capture what I saw. I erased them and did them again. Better!  I was in a mediative state, the zone. Applying the virtue of patience, by golly, the hand on my drawing pad was becoming a close resemblance to my real hand! A glimmer of hope pulsed through me.

Later that same day while doing yoga in my living room, my focus went to my hands on the floor helping to push me up into downward dog. I envisioned every line and fold and the way each finger curved and connected to my palm. Drawing my hand gifted me with a much deeper awareness and appreciation for my hands. I still have so much to learn, but already I’m seeing from a place of enhanced connection to myself and the world around me. When I look at a face now, I notice all the details and want to draw it the way I see it.  What a new and different way of being!   

Intention: Be inspired this year. Give yourself the magic of seeing your life in new ways and follow your heart with gusto!