Creative Journaling (3) – Reading a Line

In a broad sense, what is drawing?  It is making a line or a mark, though it can be more than that.  A signature, really, a line, which each of us has learned to “draw” – and which, over the years has become unique and identifiable as particularly our own.  It has the characteristics of the hand which makes it.  It can even take on the feelings of the person at the time it was written.  Perhaps they were in hurry or a bit sleepy, or were sitting in car on a bumpy surface, or the paper was lumpy.  But we know that is our signature.  In fact, it is just a mark, a line, but it is a “telling mark.” (Ref: “Drawing on the Artist Within,” by Betty Edwards, Ch. 6, pp. 56+). 

Recently in the journaling class, we composed a fictional first and last name (with closed eyes, using a pin and the telephone book ).  Then we asked everyone present to write the name, as though it was their own, on a piece of paper.  We then laid all the “signatures” out on the table and had an interesting time looking at all these signature-lines, making up a “story” about person it represented.  What kind of “person” was this?  What were they feeling?  What can we tell about them?  In effect, we were learning to see a line and to “read” it. You can try it also.

Activity:  And then for homework, we all shared another line activity.  (Ref. ibid., Ch. 7, adapted from p. 65-67, “Drawing Out Insight”)  Fold a sheet of paper in half (lengthwise), then fold it in half again, and then fold it in half again.  Then open it up. You should have 8 little spaces.  Number each section at the bottom 1-8, and label each panel with a descriptor:  1. Anger.  2. Joy.  3. Tranquility.  4. Depression.  5. Power.  6. Femininity.  7. Illness.  8. _________.  The #8 is the choice of the individual (I chose “Hunger), or any human trait.  Using a pencil (not a pen), in each section, one at a time, make a drawing that to you represents what the word at the bottom stands for.  One exception: “You must not draw any pictures whatsoever or use any symbols at all.  No raindrops, no shooting stars, no hearts and flowers, no question marks, no lightening bolts, no rainbows, no clenched fists.  Use only the language of line: fast lines, slow lines, light, dark, smooth, rough, broken, or flowing.”  Let “expression” be in the line(s) alone. 

The next week, we again laid them all out on the table.  There was lively discussion, as you may guess, as everyone tried to “read the line.”  And the discussion turned to the difficulty of finding out how to make an expressive line without using language or cartoon-like patterns.  It was an investigation of a totally new concept:  how to make feelings visible.  In fact, several people submitted more that one page of panels, as they struggled to achieve what they considered to be the proper expressiveness (to themselves).  We’ve re-done the assignment three times, using different human traits, always gaining more insight into drawing lines expressively. And we agree it works best if we can try to feel or imagine the condition inside ourselves, and then proceed to make the line-marks.  Try it.  See what you think.

“Thus, every line is a statement, a form of communication between the individual who made the line and the individual who views it.  A drawing is a far more complex mode of expression, revealing of a wide realm beyond conscious awareness.  We can “read” a line.  Can we  “read” a drawing?  If so, perhaps we can take a step in the direction of gaining access to that part of the mind which knows…more than it knows it knows – the same part of the brain that asks the beautiful question, ponders the unsolved problem, takes the initial step in the creative process: First Insight.” [Ibid., p. 65]

.Some Words of Encouragement:

·        “The first steps of a creative act are like groping in the dark: random and chaotic, feverish an fearful, a lot of busy-ness with no apparent or definable end in sight… the idea, however minuscule, is what turns the verb into a noun – paint into a painting, sculpt into sculpture, write into writing, steps into a dance.  I call it scratching.”  [Ref: The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use It For Life, Twyla Tharp, p. 94-5.]

·        Do a verb or an adjective in the activity.  Try something new.

·        “Those who wonder are not necessarily lost.”  [Kobi Yamada]

·        “Oh, for a life of sensations rather than of thoughts!” [John Keats]

·        “Look closely.  The beautiful may be small.” [Emmanuel Kant]

Creative Journaling (1) The Creative Process

(Note to my readers:  I want to apologize for not being able to get to these postings up in a more timely fashion, but I hope that you will find the wait to be worth it.)

To begin at the beginning, I’ve been a teacher for many, many years, and there has been a constant little niggling problem in the back of my mind.  That is, how to stimulate the creative powers in an individual, in students, and myself included?  And supposing that if I could do that, how can I find a way to teach it to others?  Clearly, it has something to do with our brains.  Are some just more insightful, more talented than others?  I don’t think so.  I think that everyone has potential, has undeveloped awareness of talents and abilities.  So how can these creative resources be tapped and released?

Recently I ran into a book, printed in 1987, which starts out by raising these same questions.  How could I have missed it so long?  I must have been blind, or it just wasn’t the moment of readiness.  But now I want to share the reference for this treasure which I’ve been using in my classes.  I will be referring to it from time to time in the up-coming creative journaling series of posts: “Drawing on the Artist Within,” by Betty Edwards, (ISBN 0-671-63514-X pbk).  If at all possible, please try to locate a copy. I’ll be citing from it from time to time.

I readily admit that my background is in the arts and literature.  I am not a scientist, and as such I know that it is a gross over-simplification just to blithely assume that the brain has two parts, left and right, and that each side is in charge of different human thinking processes.  In fact, we are woefully ignorant about the brain and how it works, and brain research is in its infancy.  But we have to start this dialogue somewhere, in order to think about it at all, so here goes. 

A diagram summarizes some of the Right and Left Brain modes (p. 12).

Left –Mode                  Right-Mode

Verbal                          Nonverbal

Syntactical                    Perceptual

Linear                           Global

Sequential                     Simultaneous

Analytic                        Synthetic

Logical                         Intuitive

Symbolic                      Concrete

Temporal                      Non-temporal

Digital                           Spatial

In Chapter 1 (pp. 2-9) of the text, there is an excellent summary of the historical context concerning research into the creative process, divided into five stages, as follows:

R    First Insight:      A sudden awareness (What? What if?)

L    Saturation:        Obtaining information (Need data…)

R    Incubation:        Thinking about it (How could it be?)

R    “Aha!”:             Sudden insight  (Eureka! That’s it!)

L    Verification:      Checking  (Does it really work?)

So if there are two sides to the brain, which side is doing the heavy lifting?  And the answer is (taa-daa) both are, but in different stages of the process (above, R= Right Brain Mode, L= Left Brain Mode). 

So now we have a problem.  Much of our educational system is geared toward training the left brain: language, reading, counting, formulas, data, facts, dates, etc.  However the right brain likes music, colors, dancing, drawing, art, patterns, etc.  And though I hate to admit it, if we spend all our time just writing in our journals, the result is that they are going to become products of the left brain.  That, unhappily, leaves out a great deal of creative input. So how do we begin to have more creative input into our simple habit of journaling? 

Well, it turns out that one good way is to wake up and stimulate the right brain for more of its input, and drawing is one way to do that.  It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t draw.  Just try these activities to get started.  Don’t be a critic.  Be brave.  Just jump in and do it.  And don’t throw them out.  Either draw them in your journal, or put them on paper and save them in a folder for later use.

Activities (p. 15):

~   Activity #1:  Draw your hand.

~   Activity #2:  Draw a person (live, magazine, yourself?)

~   Activity #3:  Draw an object

Some Words of Encouragement to Get Started:

v     Remember, this is not art.  It is to stimulate R-mode.

v     It’s good to try something new.

v     It’s common to lose awareness of time passing when working in the R-mode.  Just let it happen.

Nurturing the Creative Juices

Borrowing some good advice from the art world can enhance the journaling experience. In the following excerpt from a posting by artist Robert Genn, just imagine that as he talks about creativity and art, you can apply the thinking to writing in your journal. [Ref: Robert Genn, “Art Keys,” 9/22/2004] 

“There’s a singular habit you need to develop.  You need to build a regular productive rhythm that explores your own doing.  It’s going to be a bit like chain-smoking – you use the last one to light up the next.  But unlike a production line where all the products are the same – this conveyor belt will only exist in order to show development, variation, possibilities.   

Here are a few keys to a possible adventure in ‘one to another’:

·        Start up your line every day at the same hour.

·        Temporarily renounce other joys of your life.

·        Let no one and no thing interrupt your flow

·        Supplement your imagination with books.

·        Let motifs and ideas grow out of themselves.

·        Keep asking yourself “what could it be?”

·        Keep fresh – do not linger or anguish.

·        Be delusional – be full of ‘moxie’ and ‘mojo.’

·        Let your processes become your governors.

·        Become particular about your tools and systems.

·        Take joy and optimism to your growing mastery.

·        Be always prepared to change your mind.

·        Fall in love with the actual doing.

·        Use your intuition to assess your progress.

·        Accumulate your winners and toss your losers.”

More Words of Encouragement:

v     Creativity is never what it seems.  “An amateur photographer friend was invited to dinner and took along a few pictures.  The hostess looked at this work and exclaimed, ‘These are very good.  You must have an excellent camera.’ Later, as my friend was departing, he turned to the hostess and said, ‘That was a delicious meal.  You must have some excellent pots.’” [Simon Evans]

v     “The name given to a thing is not the subject; it is only a convenient label. The subject is inexhaustible.” [George Bellows]

v      “Focus is equal parts concentration and awareness.” [Gen.  Fred Franks, Jr.]

v   "If you focus on the flaws, you miss the feast." [Anonymous]

v     “To write about one’s life is to live it twice, and the second living is both spiritual and historical, for a
       memoir reaches deep within the personality as it seeks its narrative form.”  [Patricia Hampl]