“When [artists] are making their work the left-brain is shut off. ”
An Odd Couple
The right and left halves of the brain are the Felix and Oscar of human anatomy.
Chaotic Oscar on the right; tidy Felix on the left. Oscar brings the fun and Felix brings the Fun Police. An Odd Couple trying to make it work under one roof.
When you give Oscar the keys, be prepared for anything. Oscar is the creative one, so you best lay down some drop cloths ‘cuz it’s gonna get messy when the right brain gets crankin’. Ideas bubble up, insights download, sparks fly. Paint might get spilled.
Then neat freak Felix comes home to restore order. The left brain abhors the mess and chaos created by the right brain. It doesn’t “do” ideas—doesn’t like them, trust them or even want to see new ones succeed.
Not fun. But necessary....sometimes.
Left brain is linear & analytical, a point A to point B, get ‘er done, keep it clean kind of dude.
Personally, I tend to rebel against that linear, analytical way of thinking. Not fun. But necessary.
I recognize the need to let the left brain take the keys sometimes. Just not ALL the time.
Left brain gifts have to be timed right.
You have to send Left Brain Felix off to work while Right Brain Oscar works his magic.
Only after Oscar makes his magical creative mess does Felix get to come in and put everything into a tidy order that makes sense.
Write first (Oscar). Edit later (Felix).
Oscar and Felix complement each other, but they need separate spaces to do their separate jobs.
More next time on how to manage Left Brain Felix’s nagging and nay-saying during the creative process…because the left brain really doesn’t like the phrase “I have an idea!”