The Heart of the Matter

I know I have the upper hand here when I say “everything is beautiful.” I’m an artist, and as a visual creator, we can’t help but take in, absorb, and process the world through our eyes first. Everything goes through our eyes, even before it hits our brains and our hearts, our senses and our guts. I suppose that’s true for everyone, so maybe I should say things differently. Artists notice more with our eyes, take in more with our eyes, and honor what we see a lot more than most. And I do believe that artists are the only people who have an excuse to be called superficial. Because we honestly can’t help it. However, I do think viewing the world through dialed-up eyesight can be learned and cultivated, if you’re interested in giving it a try.

rue tourlaque by juliana santacruz herrera

I know people see things differently and in different ways, but I never realized how vast the range of perspective was until I lived with someone and discovered his way of seeing the world was completely opposite of mine. He was always amazed by how much my eyes saw, and in such detail. I’d spot a mark or a bruise on his leg from across the room that he wasn’t even aware of until I pointed it out. And I couldn’t believe he’d been walking around for days without ever seeing it.

On another occasion, I was helping my friend pick out wall colors for her living room, and we were with a colleague who was an interior designer. The designer and I were having a back and forth, breaking down all of the nuances between the various green swatches. And our friend told us they all looked the same and all she saw was twelve green squares.

So, in thinking about these instances, I tried to slip myself into their perspective for just a moment in order to come up with some practices that might aid a shift from dialed-down to dialed-up visual intake. Let’s just say, this is a fun little exercise, a fun little blog post, and not meant to change the world. Regardless, I hope you enjoy these suggestions!

rue pont des arts, louvre_9_33 by juliana santacruz herrera

1. Rub Your Eyes With Castor Oil

Just kidding 🙂 This is a tribute to my grandmother who followed the teachings of Edgar Cayce (I love him too). However, some of his home remedies are a bit outdated. One of his all-time, go-to fixes for almost anything was to put castor oil on it. Please don’t try this at home or anywhere else!

2. Fun Drawing Exercises To Stimulate The Other Side Of Your Brain

This one is for real! My art teacher in high school had us all do these in class and it really is amazing how it works. There are three ways to do these exercises and I recommend trying all three. First, take a piece of paper and pencil, and choose an object or person you want to draw. Then put the pencil in your opposite hand and see how you do. Note: it’s totally fine if it looks hideous, that’s not the point. The point is to activate the part of your brain that is usually on autopilot or literally asleep at the wheel. Second, choose an object to draw and stare closely at the object as you’re drawing it, but don’t look at your paper. Not once, don’t even peek. Third, same deal, but this time, don’t look at the object AND don’t pick up your pencil from the paper. Not once. Just keep drawing in one, uninterrupted line.

These exercises gently force you to look a lot more closely at your object. And when you do this, you start to see things you didn’t see before. With practice and time, you will start to notice you have dialed-up vision. And once it’s activated, you might never be able to turn it off!

3. Spend Time Walking Around For The Sole Purpose Of Snapping Images Of Things You Find Beautiful

You don’t have to spend an hour doing this. Even just a five minute walk around the block counts. My background is in photography, so I’m partial to this one. However, I also know how tricky this one can be. You might walk for five minutes and just see ugliness and trash all over the street. So, with this exercise, it’s all about FRAMING. It might even help to cut out a rectangle or square from a piece of paper, and use that as a viewfinder. It’s true that there are a lot of un-beautiful parts of the world. But, with the right framing, intention, and A-ttention, you can begin to see and then create frame after frame of beautiful goodness. Because it really is there, if you want to see it.

Hint: Try getting closer to things rather than trying to snap things from far away. The closer you are, the more control you have over the way you frame something.

B. belleville_9_103 by juliana santacruz herrera

4. Look At A Work Of Art For A Full 5 Minutes And Write Down Everything You See

This one is actually quite hard for me. I’m so judgy about art and I often decide in one second whether I like it or not. Also, five minutes doesn’t sound like a long time, but it really is when it comes to this kind of thing. Be sure to set a timer. Because, when you force yourself to look at something longer than what feels natural, you start to see more than you would have normally. You notice the cracks and the textures, the imperfections, the subtle shifts in color, the object in the corner of the room that you didn’t notice at first glance. And writing it all down really helps. It connects your eyes with your brain and it validates those details, honors them, and gives them power. Your eyes will remember the next time you look at something, and writing it down helps to flex those muscles.

Lotze and his team of researchers discovered that, while writing down their stories, the expert writers used an additional part of their brain — the caudate nucleus. The caudate nucleus is the region of the brain that handles automatic functions, or functions that are practiced over time. For example, the act of handwriting letters on a page. You learned the letters when you were a toddler, traced them, and learned how to write them yourself. After years of practice, it’s now an automatic function. When that region is active, it means there is some form of memory involved.

-Erika Rasso, The Science Behind What Writing Does To Your Brain

Try These And Let Me Know!

I think these three (again, please don’t put castor oil anywhere near your eyes!) exercises should hold you for now. I’m curious to know if you notice a shift in the coming weeks. Like most things, it takes time to shift ourselves, shift our ways of thinking, and shift our ways of seeing. But as an artist, I can tell you it’s super fun and inspiring to walk through this world seeing so many things alive and on fire with beauty! I wish the same for you and hope this little post offers you some inspo at the very least.

Until next time…

xo, Libby