Drawing on the Right Side

I have been working through Betty Edwards' book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and last night I drew my second self-portrait. When I sat down, I kept thinking that I couldn't do it, I would feel badly afterward when I saw how awful it would be, I don't have enough time.... you get the picture.

I got all my materials together and sat looking at the sketch pad, thinking of excuses not to do anything, then I remembered some of the exercises to help stop the chatter in my Left Brain (ego-mind? per Tolle?). After a few minutes of R-directed sketching (looking at my hand and sketching all the little wrinkles without looking at the paper), I settled down and just started on the self-portrait.

Well, it's not a piece of fine art, but it is absolutely amazing to me!! It just came off the page as I erased, considered negative space, measured and calibrated, but did not - I repeat, did not - ever draw a nose, never drew the typical line creating the edge of my face, never actually drew the eyes. I shaded, erased out highlights, shaded, cross-hatched....well, it was sort of like magic because there it was, suddenly before me.

This whole thing amazes me - it is so clear to me that the monkey chatter in the L-directed mind continually pushes out the creative, intuitive, holistic R-directed mind.