My Left Hand vs My Right Hand
On July 21st there was an Opinion Column in the New York Times called "My Left Hand vs. My Right Hand" and friends sent me links and copies of the article. It was a fun read!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/opinion/sunday/my-left-hand-vs-my-right-hand.html
Readers of this blog might remember that I had a Colles Fracture of my left wrist (dominant hand) on March 23rd. Artist friends from several online art groups suggested that I should draw with my non-dominant hand while I was in a cast , and I DID! It was wonderful planning each day's drawing and I filled my sketchbook wirh ink drawings during the 6 weeks. My cast was removed on May 3rd and I had significant limitations in movement and moderate pain. I began physical therapy the following week and was just discharged on from PT.
The author of the article, Liza Donnelly, is a cartoonist, and she worried about her arms - the broken one and the now neglected one. She thought that drawings with her non-dominant hand were much looser, and looked more like her drawings from childhood. She wondered if these drawings were tapping into her original creativity. She has other wonderful questions and emotions, and compares the drawings done with each hand. I agree with her that straight lines and especially printing was VERY difficult with my non-dominant hand.
After reading the article I wanted to compare the drawings done with my two hands. Here are both drawings for comparison:
April 19, 2018 Non-Dominant Hand Drawing done 4 weeks after being put in my cast.
August 1, 2018 After 12 weeks of physical therapy.
I'd be interested in people's comments or experiences.
Most of the non-dominant hand drawings I did in my cast are in this folder on my blog: