“One eye sees, the other feels.” Paul Klee
Moonlight Mist, mixed watermedia, 29 x 21″
In teaching art, it is hard to teach folks to listen to both sides of the brain. Paul Klee’s quote really speaks to the dichotomy of what we pay attention to as we paint. Both the seeing (left brain) and the feeling (right brain) are at play in the best work.
After wearing bifocals for a few years, I got tired of having my vision clouded by smudges, dust, etc. and decided to try wearing contacts. Vision is one of an artist’s most important senses, and I felt like I was always struggling to see clearly.
My last attempt to wear contacts was before I even needed glasses. My sister wore them in high school and allowed me to try hers on. I felt like I had a rock in my eye. I really didn’t understand how she could wear them all day!
But having these new lenses has made me much happier. They are comfortable and give me great views both up close and far away. I don’t need much distance correction, so the optician suggested that I try mono-vision. One eye sees well up close reading, and the other eye sees well at a distance. After some initial adjustment, my brain has learned to pay attention to the correct eye. I am combining the two corrections without even thinking about it.
Just as in mono-vision, the successful artist is able to to synthesize both the sight and the feeling of a subject.
What I often observe is that artists translate what they see through the language of art:
- color
- shape
- line
- value
- texture
Emphasizing one or two design elements helps create mood, feeling and meaning from sometimes simple subject matter.
It’s not what you look at that matters- it’s what you see. – Thoreau
Hi Ruth…………good to hear from you.
I recently took a class at OSA and learned a new technique about using paint so maybe my work will improve………..Hope so. Sue
Hi Ruth!
I am interested in the way you adjusted to your contact lenses. I also tried them about 10-12 years ago and hated them. My husband told me his are very soft and easy to use, but I am still a bit skeptical!
Have fun with your open house!
“One eye sees, the other feels.” Paul Klee This is because the left eye conceives of the world as separate things according to the consciousness of the right hemisphere of the brain, whilst the consciousness of of the right hemisphere reaches out in order to understand what is. See Ian McGilchrist “The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World”. Wikipedia has a summary. The left hemisphere seeks to control as use things, the right hemisphere seeks to know.