gimzer

I used to play with fabric colors, and a quilt takes a long time to make, so i'd play a little with the designs with colored pencil. I can't say i've ever had a good eye for art, nor have i had good hand-eye coordination. Now all of you have become my teachers, and i am so enjoying the learning experience! If i like part of one of your pieces, i'll replay it over and over again, then practice a little. One of the reasons i like this site so much is i can erase and erase and erase, and no erase marks!

mdawrcn

I took art classes throughout a two year liberal arts degree, then went on to get a science degree, which is what my profession is now. One of my art classes was taught from the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards, which you probably know about. It theorized that the right side of the brain is the creative and the left side is the analytical. It has been a long time ago, but it taught how to tap into the creative side by doing certain exercises and that using that side and creating art can be hypnotic and relaxing and actually energizing. It is a feeling I experience quite often when creating something. As I said my profession is scientific which fascinates me but, it has never been easy for me. I just needed to make a living. I think some people are stronger on different sides of the brain and can become more so through exercise and practice, just like a sport. Art is in my blood as my aunt is an artist and I have always been drawn to textured art, such as crochet, embroidery, and crewel. I love to draw and paint also, I just don’t enough time to devote to practice to become really good. My dream would be to follow some sort of creative pursuit full time and thus the reason for my question above. Forgive me if it is too personal a question.

clorophilla

...I wanted to say, just as HIS paints, of course - my English sometimes fails, expecially for the number and the gender...

clorophilla

I want to point out that art not necessarily competes with sociality, on the contrary; drugs could do. Unfortunately, for those people it wasn't found a treatment who had not the side effect of losing connection with their inner self and emotion, the connetion with the living part of the world around them... I wonder if this can be named a "therapy", it seems to me a compromise - may be the only one available, but what a cost!

And also I should add that Dario is not autistic, he's very fonded with people, has a lot of friends and is a loving, sensitive and friendly person, just as her paints... so, at least in this case, art is not a sign of being apart...

Dragon

I once watched a show about Autistic people. It spefically focused on those with a savant talent and several of them were artitistic talents. The paintings and sculptures they produced were absolutely incredible. A couple of them started taking meds and therapy which was helping them to live more in society, to have a more normal life but sadly they often lost a lot of their artistic skills. It was like they had been so seperate from the rest of the world that they could focus so much more of their brain power on their art. When they started be able to interact with the world outside their mind they lost that intense focus. Sad that the art seemed to suffer but their lives were so much better when they could be a part of the outside world and understand it, not live in fear of it, that it was a good trade for most of them.