Nature Study and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by HollyAnne Dobbins
A number of years ago, an artist-friend of mine recommended Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain to make me feel less anxious about drawing. I perused the book but soon set it aside in favor of other reading. Then, this year the Nature Study workshop at the ChildLight USA conference that Mom and I teach was all a-buzz with talk of Betty Edwards’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Several conference attendees asked me what I thought of the book, especially as it connects to nature study. Curious, I ordered a copy of the book and started reading. Edwards’s thesis is simple: “Ability to draw depends on ability to see the way an artist sees . . . . most people never learn to see well enough to draw” (Edwards, 2). Therefore, if they can learn to see, they will be able to draw. So, how does one learn to see? Edwards insists the secret is in learning about the brain and, specifically, the functions of the right side of the …