Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Ramon Montes

 

There were two exercises we had to complete this week in regards to activating the right side of our brain. The two exercises were the Vases and Faces exercise as well as the Upside-Down drawing exercise.

This exercise is illusory in a sense as the image contains two profiles facing toward the center, yet at the same time, it can be seen as a symmetrical vase. I was pretty comfortable with the beginning phase of this exercise. Following the directions, I completed the profile on the left- hand side first (I am right-handed; therefore, I was instructed to complete the profile on the left first) describing the body parts as I drew them, and created the horizontal lines on the top and bottom. 

Then, when tasked with creating the second profile to finish the drawing, I noticed some confusion on my end, and hesitation since I started to switch from seeing the profiles and the vase as a whole. This is probably when I would say I felt a shift from L mode to R mode. I was sort of disconnecting with what I was drawing in the moment. This started around the ending of the nose and at the mouth. This confusion caused me to make several mistakes while trying to complete this drawing so I had to erase frequently. Trying to maintain the symmetrical aspect was rather difficult, but I tried to focus on the curves and shapes of the opposing profile and tried to reverse them to help me complete the ending of the second profile/vase.

"Vases and Faces" Exercise

As for the second drawing, I had to draw Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Igor Stravinsky, however I had to keep both the image and my drawing upside down. I also had to focus on drawing the lines and shapes, rather than trying to draw the image as a whole. In my attempt, I decided to draw in sections starting from the top of the upside-down drawing to the bottom. I also used a sheet of paper to cover the drawing as I wanted to make sure I was not looking at the drawing as a whole to refrain from noticing the object and things I were drawing, but rather the lines and their associated paths. 

"Upside-Down Drawing" Exercise
Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Igor Stravinsky

During the process, I was listening to a wide variety of music I have stored on my desktop and quickly lost track of time when completing this assignment, so I was definitely concentrated on completing section by section until the end. I was actually dreading this assignment since I thought I would struggle immensely, but I am rather happy with how it turned out, despite how much I had to erase for adjustments in regards to proportionality. My drawing ended up becoming lengthier than the original.