Petra paints with her left hand.

Petra paints with her left hand.

I paint with my right hand.

It was hard at first to use the left hand when Petra painted.

The marks were wonky from an inability to control the brush, to feel the mark; it was hard to say how much water was being held in the bristles because I did not know what felt right in the left hand.

Developing sensitivity to the feel of the brush in the left hand has been an important part of painting with Petra.

When I think about it this was something I did as I began to paint...learn to feel the mark, learn to feel the paint in the bristles. The difference is I most likely did not do this consciously, or rather I knew that was the purpose of painting frequently...to develop the feel… but at the same time, I did not intentionally say “I will paint … to develop the feel of the paint in the bristles, to develop the feel of the mark coming out of the brush onto the surface….

I just did it.

It has taken a few weeks for Petra to just do it.

Now when she sits down she picks up the brush with her left hand.

When the mark does not happen the way she wants, when she has misjudged the paint in the brush, I no longer break through in frustration and try to, or have to suppress trying to, resolve the problem with my right hand. Petra works through the problem with her left.

Reading essays and collected talks of psychologist the past few weeks I have been thinking of two things: 1. Tools and 2. Drawing with the non-dominant hand.

I’ll write later (a lot) more about tools -what the can be and how they can be applied as developmental aids- as they are (appearing) to be very important aspect of my research.

But now I want to write about the second thing, drawing with the non-dominant hand as a means of strengthening the dominant hand, as a means of challenging the other side of the brain, pushing ‘the practical’ aside to make more room for ‘the creative’.

Truthfully, if I’d ever been challenged to do this exercises in my drawing classes...and I probably was… I do not recall doing this.

And the exercises I find online, the reasons given for what makes drawing with the non-dominant hand beneficial, well, much of what is put forth is questionable in terms of what we have learned about the brain in recent years.

Still, it is an exercise that has been performed for a long time and there might possibly be a benefit from doing it. Perhaps this benefit is similar or the same to moving around when drawing observationally, copying the work of another artist, or eliminating a favorite color or tool from the box. More everyday would be to change the order of things, first breakfast then shower. Or taking another route to where ever it is one might travel frequently. Small shifts can precipitate big change, putting us in different locations at different times. Or simply reveal a common sight from another point of view.