Lets test your first natural gift. Here’s your first question (in a series of five).
You walk into your living room and there is a painting hanging on the wall. The painting is hanging crookedly. What would you do next?
(a) Get a strong urge to straighten it, and then adjust the painting until it is straight.
(b) You’d notice it, but would be perfectly happy to leave it crooked.
(c) You wouldn’t notice.
The above question illustrates what I call your natural gift of horizontal and vertical comparison.
When you notice a painting hanging crooked on a wall, you are actually noticing that the edges of the painting are not aligned with the horizontal of the floor, or the vertical edge of a wall. Most people have this ability to see something that’s not lined up with something else, but how does it apply to drawing?
When you draw, in order to place a line or mark on a piece of paper you unconsciously keep a track of the orientation of the horizontal and vertical edges of the paper so you can draw in the right place. You even do this when you are writing on a sheet of paper so that all the words stay lined up with the margin.
Knowing what’s up, what’s down, what’s level and what’s at an angle are all skills used in drawing and you already use them in your everyday life for day to day tasks, without even realising it.
If in the above question you answered (a) then you probably are quite used to using this natural gift in your everyday life, and just need to refine it in relation to the skill of drawing.
If you answered (b) or (c) I’d suggest that you simply take a real interest in looking around you for things that feel as if they need straightening, or levelling in relation to something else. As you become conscious of this ‘feeling’ you will soon see that you actually do possess this natural gift and simply need some exercises to refine it further in relation to drawing.
Now lets find out about your next natural gift…
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