About Me

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On a quest to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I enjoy conversation with good friends over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. If I could be anywhere on earth, I'd choose to be on the beach, in the moonlight, with my feet buried in sand up to my ankles.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Art for the Auditory

I may be the only auditory learner on the planet. I’m the only one I know of anyway. Most people learn visually which explains the plethora of diagrams, graphs and charts out there. I’ve sat through many a business meeting squinting at charts intended to present information in the “easiest” way possible. I’m all about words. Want me to remember something? Tell me. Giving me directions? PLEASE don’t draw me a map, and for goodness sake don’t tell me every extraneous landmark and cross road between here and there. Despite my visual deficiencies I’m fairly creative. I enjoy drawing/doodling and have always wanted to take an art class. I found one offered through my local rec. center, Colored Pencil Drawing of Plants and Flowers, and signed up. I purchased the required pad of Bristol smooth paper and went to my first class this past week. Our first lesson was on shading. The instructor had us draw a circle, a cylinder, a cone and a cube. I knew I was in trouble when my cylinder ended up looking like a dented beer can. I got so flustered I forgot how to draw a cube. I tried to copy what the instructor was doing with shading, but I didn’t get it. We were supposed to imagine that light was falling on the shapes from a certain direction. Huh? “Look at that wall,” the instructor said. “See how it’s not all one color because of the way the light hits it?” It isn’t all the same color? It looks like the same color to me.


I was still trying to wrap my mind around the shading thing when the instructor moved on to the next topic – drawing a leaf. I spent half of the available time trying to make the outline of my leaf look like the picture with lots of erasing and redrawing. Once I had the basic outline it was time to color the leaf in with colored pencil. Painting with color pencils is about layering. I had difficulty with the concept of putting a base color down on a section of the leaf with the idea that the color will change as I add additional layers of other colors. I forced myself not to look at my classmates’ work for fear that I would be completely psyched out by how much better they were doing than I was. By the end of the evening my drawing did indeed look like a leaf, although I couldn’t tell you which direction the light was coming from or whether or not the shading was right. There are only 3 classes left. Something tells me that may not be enough for this visually impaired “artist”.

10 comments:

  1. smiles. its cool thought to stretch yourself outside your norm so i thin it is good for you...have fun play with it...

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  2. I'm with Brian: just have fun and see where it takes you. You never know...

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  3. Brian and ds thanks for the encouragement. G-Man, now that's just mean.

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  4. Art classes work the brain when the teacher is talented. Your brain sounds worked :). That's good, right? I tell myself that all the time. Best of luck!

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  5. Sounds like you are stressing over something that should be pure fun. Am I wrong? :)

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  6. I applaud you for the fact that you even signed up for the class, stretching your creative side. Bravo! And I admire your way with words. You truly painted us a picture of your struggles.

    Me? Never. (I think).

    Namaste..........cj

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  7. Since I'm about 99.9% a visual learner, I cannot even imagine how you do it. I can paraphrase pretty well, though. (And in arguments with one auditory and one visual learner, it's kinda funny how you can totally miss what the other intended ;-) Thanks God for forgiving friends.
    Tina @ Life is Good

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  8. Do me a favor, please. At some point, block out Hemingway's personality and treat yourself to an audio version of The Old Man and the Sea. Then, give me a quick critique on the literature itself.

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  9. Where ARE you? I miss your posts!

    Namaste..........cj

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