Pictures are Flat- Life has Depth

I have never been good at drawing pictures, though I tried very much to be one. I feel amused when I recall my attempts to draw animals, human faces and so on. I remember my science teacher, who taught us to draw a scenery- a tree, two clouds, the sun, a hut, waves of water, four flying birds. When he repeatedly drew the same on the black board, I asked him to teach some other drawing. He smiled and said that he knew only one, the same scenery!! Later when I was in high school , I looked at some books about how to draw, but the mystery of drawing remained mysterious and washed away the slightest hope that I could probably draw some beautiful picture one day. Though we had an art teacher, she hardly taught us anything. That period was not called Art Class; it was called SUPW- Socially Useful Productive Work.  Sadly, that turned out to be Some Useful Period Wasted!! Only later, when I read about the right side of the brain, that I understood why I drew so badly!!

Exploring through imagination which has no bounds

A few days back, during my routine rounds, I observed a 1^st std  girl with a few sheets of paper and pencil sitting at her desk and getting ready to draw. I went closer and observed her with utmost curiosity. She thought for a while, and started to draw a big tree. She began to move her pencil from the bottom of the paper till the top part and drew two lines which were parallel for some length, cross cut in the middle and again moved up parallel. Then she drew a few thin lines on both the sides of the top half of the parallel lines. Now it looked like a tree with branches. She started to draw leaves. I went near and asked, ‘What are you drawing?’ She said, ‘I don’t know what to draw!’ ‘You can draw a tree! , I said. Without any hesitation and fear she said, ‘I don’t know how!’  I was surprised! What a revelation!!

Pictures are just symbols depicting life- Real Life needs deep understanding 

We say and believe, that a picture looks like life, but in real it doesn’t. Pictures are flat, life has depth. In fact, the girl was not drawing a tree, but recognizing her drawing as a symbol of a tree. The lines on the paper did not appear to her like a tree , but it ‘meant’ a tree! For her a tree is a complicated piece which has color, texture, shape, mass, light and shade. She said’ I don’t know how’ as she was unable bring all these qualities in her drawing. Children’s imagination is unlimited. Their assimilation of ideas is outstanding.

Awaken the child’s natural genius by triggering her imagination and nurturing her creativity.  Such children will grow up to be alert adults who can cope up with life’s twists and turns. Such adults see things in new ways and find solutions to problems others might miss. Problem solving and innovative thinking begins with the power of imagination. 

Photo copy rights: Ravi Hegde