Studies for the Left Hand

Richard Bell’s Wild West Yorkshire nature diary Wednesday, 25th June 2008

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I’VE BEEN DOING what I thought would be the best thing with my RSI-type pain in the upper arm; avoiding intricate movements with the mouse and giving my arm a work-out by clipping the hedge or guillotining ream upon ream of paper here in the studio. This was the wrong thing to do!

After watching me move my arm in various directions, the doctor tells me that my problem is an inflammation of a tendon in my shoulder. I need to take a course of anti-inflammatory ibuprofen and rest it.

My left arm is fine though, so, while I give my right arm chance to recover, I thought I’d try and doing a drawing with my left hand. It’s an interesting experience; it reminds me of the blind contour drawing exercises in Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

Here’s an attempt to add colour - again using my left hand. The awkwardness of this drawing reminds me of some of my sketchbook drawings from my first years at art college, so perhaps I went through a similar training process with my right hand.

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