Drawing Letters without Lines

Opening Space for Creative Innovation – A calligraphic workshop by Peter Fraterdeus The eye doesn’t see the black on the page, it sees the white. i e ua n re e s

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he discovery of Emptiness, (ie, negative space in all its connotations) is a deep positive source of creativity and mindfulness. The drawing of letterforms and abstract marks with pencils, markers, and the eastAsian brush is an exercise in perception of negative space and non-obvious pattern relationships. We explore creative development and mindfulness through calligraphic and drawing exercises, contemporary neuroscience and the principles of Zen meditation. Outcomes can be executed in numerous ways, from large Shodo (Zen Calligraphy) for poster sized display, to eraser-carved rubber stamps, cut with a scalpel to experience the physical meaning of negative space. However, the lasting benefits are an increased awareness of one’s own ‘boundless’ inner-space and an introduction to methods of accessing the well of creativity within. The power of emptiness is not solely in the visual realm, but every art and domain.

“Wisdom” 慧 (huì)— cursive Chinese inscribed in a pebble ©2015 P. Fraterdeus

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides artu r sch na b el

As Professor Betty Edwards shows in her Drawing on the Artist Within seminars, using these exercises to get past the L-mode (linear, “left brain” ) allows us to address projects with increased awareness of the spaces that help define the components, and to address life with an enhanced mindful appreciation of the dynamic relationship between figure and ground, in all their manifestations.

amor omnia vincit — Three color figure/ground study ©2008 P. Fraterdeus —letterpress note card

Modes of Perception The Right Brain or R-mode provides the ‘negative’ space against which thought (Left Brain or L-mode) marks time, sequence and order. This is the quiet space, the empty vessel which holds the mind, yet is the mind’s easel. It is the complementary, the ground on which the figure plays, yet is also primary, for without it, thought itself could not exist, as we cannot perceive form without its context. We can think of L-mode as Logical and Linear, while R-mode is Reflective, Receptive—spacial and immediate. While these are not exclusive to the physical hemispheres of the brain, they are models of perception. Life in exoteric, materialistic, Apollonian cultures tends to favor the L-Mode with its linear logical sequential processing. But the Arts, Meditation, Music, Passion, Exhaustion, Trauma, Psychoactive Herbs and Alcohol — the Dionysian influences— all can be paths to R-mode awareness. Yet it’s fleeting... Betty Edwards developed practices in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (www.drawright.com) which are designed to quiet the chattering, ‘rational,’ sequential, symbolic mind, allowing the intuitive perceptual mind to come forward. The conscious recognition of entering R-mode is like a light turning on, a veil lifted, or a window suddenly blown open by a fresh breeze. Drawing (letterforms) is as good a practice as any! It challenges both analytic reason and intuitive perception in much the same way that music does. Our approach will be to inform the ‘rational’ mind, but to prefer the pattern-recognizing, synthesizing, relationship-appreciating mode of the ‘empty’ mind, which takes what the eye offers without judgement, in order to see ‘negative’ space as something real and substantial. To perceive the substance of emptiness.

Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room;

Designing forms, seeing space, consider Lao Tse’s advice to designers in the Tao Te Ching... Marks made with the pencil, graphite sticks, brush, the drawing pen, all with consideration of the power of emptiness. Letterforms are studied first as pure figure and ground relationships, and only then with stylistic consideration. A variety of techniques push our boundaries of observation, using the eye, the mind, and the hands to open doors of perception. Perceptual drawing exercises help us develop a toolkit of practical approaches to drawing glyphs or sequences of letters.

It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore benefit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there. tao te ching 11 – trans j. english & gia-fu feng 1989

The same exercises also strengthen and refine pure drawing of any subject. Contact Peter Fraterdeus [email protected] More information at http://empt.yt/zen

“Great Emptiness” (tàixū)— cursive Chinese ©2015 P. Fraterdeus