COMPOSITIONAL DEVICES AND STRATEGIES
CROSS OVER CROSS OVER... more exercises on right brain and left brain activity.
Vases and faces: an exercise for the double brain The exercises that follow are designed specifically to help you understand the shift from dominant left-hemisphere mode (L-mode) to subdominant R-mode. I could go on describing the process in words, but only you can experience for yourself this cognitive shift, this slight change in subjective state. As Fats Waller once said, “If you gotta ask what jazz is, you ain’t never gonna know.” So it is with R-mode state: you must experience the L- to R-mode shift, observe the R-mode state, and in this way come to know it. As a first step, the exercise below is designed to illuminate the possibility of conflict between the two modes.
Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition (p. 46). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Before you begin: Please read all the directions
Exercise 1.
1. First, you will copy one-half of the Vase/Faces illusion. If you are right-handed, draw the profile on the left side, facing toward the center. If you are left-handed, copy the profile on the right side of the paper, facing toward the center... as shown below.
3. Now, take your pencil and slowly go back over the line of the profile you have just drawn, naming the parts from top to bottom as you redraw the line, like this:
“Forehead . . . nose . . . upper lip . . . lower lip . . . chin . . . neck.” You might even do that a second time, again redrawing the lines of the profile and really thinking to yourself what those terms mean.
4. Then, go to the other side and start to draw the facing profile that will complete the symmetrical vase in the center.
5. When you get to somewhere around the forehead or nose, you may begin to experience some mental confusion or conflict. Mentally note this as it happens.
6. The purpose of this exercise is for you to self-observe: “How do I solve the problem?”
Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition (p. 47). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
NEGATIVE SPACE DRAWING
FIRST
WATCH THE FOLLOWING DRAWING TUTORIAL
THEN
COMPLETE THE NEGATIVE SPACE DRAWING IN CLASS. YOU WILL WANT TO USE A PENCIL TO DRAW THE NEGATIVE SPACES/SHAPES, THEN YOU CAN USE YOUR MARKER TO FILL IN THE NEGATIVE SPACES WITH BLACK.
OUTSIDE HOMEWORK: Over the weekend, complete 1-2 negative space drawings in your sketchbook. You should choose something organic. To create contrast and make them interesting, your drawings can include a man-made object along with an organic shape (such as a plant). Or, you can simply experiment with the organic. Take your time. You may fill in the negative space with shading or leave the area blank. Take not of how the shapes play in relation to the edge of your picture plane. Below is an instructional video and post on creating negative space drawings with a plant.
https://artistworks.com/blog/art-lessons-justin-bua-negative-space-drawing
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