We held our weekly stitch fest on Saturday last week. Cecilia had an eye appointment on Friday that she’d made months ago. We were happy to have Betty join us again. We had a surprise visitor – Mary Brent – who dropped by to purchase two felted Siamese fighting fish I had made several years ago. She was in time for tea and gingerbread men made by Cecilia.
Betty brought hand drawn maps of Arden that she is coloring for sale at the Arden Artists & Artisans Trail on November 29. She also brought the drawing she had done of us on her first visit, as well as a sketch book she tries to work in each day. It is so interesting to see someone’s work that is so different from mine.
Betty is a retired art teacher, and she is an artist in every aspect of her life – fashion, home decor, cooking, flower arranging, drawing, painting, creating something beautiful out of the ordinary or ugly. She sees the world differently than I do. Danny also sees the world differently – through a camera lens. He and I can stand at the same spot and take the same photo, but his always looks better than mine. That eye!
Danny and I had a discussion the other morning – can creativity be taught? I tend to think people are born with the “eye.” You know, that left brain/ right brain thing. I am definitely left brained – analytical, methodical, etc. Danny is definitely right brained – creative, artistic, so many ideas. (I’m sure Betty is right-brained too)
I can only remember one time when I felt like my right brain was really engaged. I took a “Painting with Wool” class in Massachusetts taught by a Scottish felt artist. We were working from photographs, and she kept talking about looking at the photos and seeing the subtle shadings in the sky and trees. It was the first time I’d really looked at clouds and noticed the different shades of color in them. It was very cloudy on my drive home that afternoon, and I spent most of the time watching the clouds and thinking about how I would paint them. By the next day, I had pretty much reverted to the left side of my brain again, but it was a fascinating experience while it lasted.