Right-Brain vs Left-Brain in Art
Tangle Trenzadis
Zentangle Art by CZT Aishwarya Darbha
Tools and Materials: Grey Apprentice Zentile, Micron Pens, Graphite pencil, White Charcoal
Tangle Trenzadis is created and deconstructed by CZT Patricia . You can find the step-outs of the pattern Trenzadis here
All beautiful artists/creators, create something because they enjoy creating something. And you must have heard so many times on podcasts and youtube videos where artists claim that they “enjoy the process of art” or “creating art with no goal in mind”. Even though again and again we repeatedly listen to the words, we are losing to understand the deep-set of emotion behind these phrases. All thanks to digitalization; social media; which can only pass on the information and not the essence.
Creating Art for just its sake is generally the Right-Brain activity. In this zone, we are relying on our intuition; imagination and rhythm of soaking into that experience. This is inevitably the best method to create art.
But our schools, jobs have highly given value to the Left-Brain activity. And even if we have created art with right-brain activity; the brain tricks us for a while as we sit on it and start to analyze; pick out mistakes, and get all logical in numbers and words.
From a very young age, we have trained our brains to do something so we receive a certain kind of response from others or a reward from an activity. It is not wrong to do so, but over-use of left-brain activities has taken away a very important aspect as “feeling of self-love”, full-expressive feelings of joy; emotions like ecstasy; from the integration of our society. For eg: We study to get good results. We cook food so others appreciate and eat. We wear good clothes again to fulfil a particular need. We are all the time expecting a particular response. We have not really tamed the brain to create anything just for the experience of it.
And social media has only aggravated this issue. It has turned the creators, artists, people; highly passion-driven and over-dose of left-brained people and communities. This happens to artists, beginners, amateurs and sometimes even proficient ones who post on social media on daily basis. The need for likes/comments from our followers (for better reach to the end-users), is an added pressure, analyzing every bit of what we put out there. It unconsciously gets into our brain and tricks our brain to create something “likeable” for others. Sadly, the more one uses the left-brain activities in an art course; the farther one moves away from the joy of the art process and the essence of creation.
Here’s my personal experience:
As an artist/teacher; I too fall for my left-brain activities, while I draw and paint; and sometimes while I post my artwork on social media. I end up analyzing all of my artworks; and lose my way to experience the joy; the feeling of accomplishing beautiful. I sometimes over-analyze my own artworks and go into details about why something worked or not worked.
I recently posted my artwork on Instagram. It was my second attempt to draw this newly deconstructed tangle pattern - Trezandis by CZT Patricia. I loved the tanglepattern; it intrigued and challenged me to give it a go. While creating the piece, I was not looking for any specific outcome. I was enjoying and relishing the moment. But when I was just about to upload my artwork, on my Insta-page; fully aware that this artwork will be scrutinized under a microscope by the public, my left-brain activity heightened, and I panicked and I posted with words like - “I am not too happy with the outcome”. My good friends from Zentangle and artists friends immediately jumped in and asked me to stop bullshitting - literally, because they understood that the piece of art was beautiful just it should be. I on the other hand over-analyzed and began to view the art objectively.
Today when I view that art piece; giving these many days; I am actually rejoicing the creation part of it. I am now wondering; when did I come so long in the art journey to create such beautiful linework. I am also wondering was I really knowing or expecting an outcome out of my tools while I was drawing? The answer was really NO - as I said before, I had no knowledge of my artwork and created this piece (as shown in the pic above) with no specific outcome.
One of the very important aspects of Zentangle Methodology is to create art without keeping any specifics of the outcome. As an artist, teacher, I am now understanding “the real value” behind this great philosophy of Zentangle Methodology; and it is for only this beautiful relationship I have with Zentangle and Art; my art-filled days have been less critical and a lot smoother. I have been able to experiment with Zentangle in so many ways, and not all artworks are “likeable” but yet they mean something so important to me. And I encourage all artists out there; to silence their inner critic and just go with the flow. If you are a beginner or just a few years into the art field - be it painting, dancing, singing, Zentangle; then my suggestion is to just get in touch with a community; so they provide you continuous inspiration to embrace this practice. You can even look for a mentor; who provide such a close-knitted community. Here’s Tangle and Inspire Club community on Facebook.
I hope you liked and learnt something important today from this blog. I generally learn a lot from my own blogs; because revisiting them after a while reminds me of the journey I made as a person. It is like my own diary but only shared in public. :-D
If you enjoyed this blog; please leave a happy comment below as reading a comment on a blog is more personal and important to me than any socials. The feeling is special. It is like, having friends visited my home. :)
Okay then, tata see you again soon again in my next blog.
