New Year’s Resolutions

I sat next to a young woman on the plane to Chicago the other day. She pulled out a sketchbook even before we were asked to turn off our electronic devices. It turned out she was working through Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, a book I’ve seen many times but never actually read. During the flight we each drew people we weren’t looking at and our hands as two of the four “pre-instruction drawings”—a self-portrait and a chair weren’t really possible that day in row 24 on the port side—but when I got home I looked for Numenius’ copy, the 1989 edition (there’s a new edition out now).

At left is my copy of Picasso’s portrait of Igor Stravinsky, drawn upside-down, which Edwards claims is the fastest way to disengage left-brain activity.

Among all the resolutions I haven’t quite formulated for the new year but which hang in the background as nagging perennials such as eat better exercise more get a better handle on the cash flow, draw more is one that feels like an invitation. Draw more of here.

Ecotone has been sadly bombarded with spam but this is my entry for the New Year.