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Advice on changing hands for drawing and painting, Advies over wisselen van teken schrijf hand, Can I draw with my other hand?, Can I paint with my other hand?, Changing from Right Hand Drawing to Left Hand, Changing hands Drawing, Drawing with your 'other' hand..., How can I draw with my left hand?, How to switch hands with drawing?, hurt or needs rest..., Kun je wisselen van je schrijfhand naar je andere hand bij tekenen?, Now that my drawing hand is paralysed, Schilderen met je andere hand, several drawing exercises that are suitable for changing hand, Swap hands, Switching hands, Tekenen met je andere hand, Wisselen van hand bij tekenen, Wisselen van schrijfhand
Lotus Stamp
Joanne has asked me; I have drawn and painted all my life. Now I am seriously disabled and my right hand no longer works. I have purchased some Sennelier oil pastels to see what I can do with my left hand any thoughts?
Dear Johanne, I’m not going to bother you with advice for training fine motor skills, because I think you already know all about that. I would like to focus my advice on Kindness and Colour.
Kindness you can show by taking great care in switching all your gear to the other side. It doesn’t make sense to swap hands partially. It would be better not to reach out too far for your pastels, cloth or supporting drawing tools. You should also re-arrange the light. Ones you are settled, you can work on drawing with your ‘new’ hand.
Having said that, it is a major task to switch hands. The brain needs time to deal with this and from what I have heard you need to take baby-steps avoiding exhaustion. So start with big crayons, a big sheet of paper and don’t feel too ambitious. Allow your arm enough rest and warmth. You could put a comfortable cushion under your arm and a (warm) beanbag for supporting your wrist. I think your left arm will like the warmth of a warm-water bottle or cosy warm beanbag and will be good to you in return for you being kind to your arm. Please, don’t get cross with your left hand. Be like a caring mother helping your ‘toddler’ hand to take a few new steps per drawing session. Encourage yourself kindly and never be harsh to yourself.
It seems to me wise not to set high goals when it comes to putting lines on the paper. As an artist you are of course aware of the power of a strong composition and the magic of the use of colour. Do you know the wonderful work of Casey Klahn, artist, instructor and author of The Colorist Blog? By beautifully making use of his wonderful pastel colours, Klahn creates marvellous pastels. I often have the feeling I need to clean my glasses when I see pastel drawings. This is not the case with Casey Klahn. He is amazingly good with putting the right amount of colour on the right place creating a very alive and clear scene. Have a look at his Barn Interior.
The yellow sun rays that fall into the dark barn make me smell hay and straw. I can feel and hear the cracking wooded floor while I walk through this barn. It is wonderful how colours can enchant us and make us feel, smell and hear places of imagination.
Although I would like to show you many works by Casey Klahn, I like to share with you too my favourite Klahn tree.
Tree in Green Light, Casey Klahn
To me this very bluish pastel would be too sweet and too blue, hadn’t Klahn created that darker right side that contrasts beautifully with the ethereal lighter left side. The heavenly blue and dreamy violet is also balanced by that wonderfully positioned emerald green moss on the bark of the tree (and in the centre of the picture). Just that bit of green balances this heavenly scene with just enough earth-element. The beauty and function of that bit of green to me is ‘grounding’, is showing ‘Earth’, and communicates to the viewers that this scene can be found right next to your house if you were only willing to admire the colour palette of nature.
There is another treasure you could enjoy by studying how Casey Klahn works. To Klahn Henry Matisse is the master. As you probably know, Matisse became sick at the age of 71 and had to stay in bed for a long time after a major operation. He felt lucky to be alive. He said: “Every day that dawns is a gift to me’. But he had trouble painting because he couldn’t stand up for long periods of time. So he’d cut out paper shapes, lots and lots of them and called this ‘drawing with scissors’. It is not that I advise you to do this. Henry Matisse was lucky to have an assistant to help him positioning the cut-outs on canvas. But he was unstoppable, like you, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me for advice. Because of that unstoppable passion, Matisse developed a new way of making art. Matisse’s daughter said that Henri worked right up to the day he died. People say that some of his last cut-out pictures are his greatest.
Cut-out art work by Henry Matisse
What I hopefully have communicated to you is that even if all my advise doesn’t work, trust you artist passion to find a way to draw and paint or whatever activity that makes you feel you can let your creative energy flow. I can picture you -for instance- working with stamps. Lots and lots of stamps: Indian stamps, children stamps, custom-made stamps, letter stamps and geometric stamps, alphabet stamps, coin stamps, and antique Indonesian batik stamps. You could use stamps with ink or tempera paint, layered, not layered, or impasto.
You will find your way and I wish you all the best.
I also wish other artist will add their advice in the comment section on or their blog and link their post to this one, so that you get a rich palette of inspiring ideas.
Love from Paula
Wise words!! I loved to read this!
I instantly thought on Matisse when I began reading…
It somehow doesn’t surprise me you instantly thought about Matisse too. How come, Sybille…are we twin-sisters of a different age and from different parents?
Awesome response, The best advice is to ask and keep asking. Take what you like, keep the balance for a rainy day, but never stop asking. We might suggest that photography be added to the list of “How the artist in me sees God’s world.”
ME and the Boss
I like your reply about the asking and divine receptivity. Asking God, asking the Muses, asking your Beloved Ones or Friends….the asking comes in many forms and it comes from the heart that opens up to something new: a new sound, a new feeling, a new experience.
Thank you ‘You and the Boss’.
Great advice…..The only thing I could add is that your mind can make magic when your passionate about creating.
Spot on comment, Jacqueline. Thank you.
Paula, your caring attitude is heartwarming. Good advice, here.
Sensible, loving advice. Lovely art …
Also, Celeste Bergin writes this response:
Casey (and Paula), do you know Annie Salness? She had a debilitating stroke and she now paints with her non-dominant hand. The remarkable thing is….she paints as well with her left hand as she did with her right! It floors me! http://anniesalness.blogspot.com/
Many thanks, Casey and Celeste, for the valuable comment and link. Very interesting!
Hi Paula! When I asked Annie how in the world she can produce work that looks nearly indiscernible from her left and right hand she said “I found out (after the stroke) that everything I learned was still in my brain and I willed myself to just apply what I know with my other hand”. Her (formerly) dominate hand is still “un-usable” and paralyzed from the stroke she had just over a year ago. She amazes me no end!
That is a hopeful statement by Annie. It shows trust and an unstoppable ambition.
You have added a valuable link, name and hopeful story to my post.
Many thanks Celeste.
lovely article! When I was in artschool, more than 20 years ago, I couldn’t use my right hand for 6 months. I discovered that i could draw much better with my left hand. My strokes where bolder, my lines were more defined. Since then I have been using both my hands, when drawing or painting. Right for precision, left for decision. Good luck with your hands.
Thank is impressive, Josh, how your two hands obey to two different tasks. Thank you for sharing and wishing you all the best.
Love from Paula
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Thank you, FamilyBugs.
Susan Pintner comments: • Very nice article and pictures — the tree, the barn — the pastel colors and the reminder of Matisse’s cut paper collages. In 1993 I broke my right wrist and had the surprising tho’ difficult pleasure of writing and doing other acts with my left; so I appreciated the suggestions about how to go about changing from right to left hand drawing, say for example starting with large pieces of paper and large crayons, etc. Many possible mindful experiences for my left hand. Your art is also lovely to see. Thanks.
these final words are all typed with my left fingers and now they take me to other activities beginning with finishing cooking in the kitchen.
Susan Pintner comments: • Very nice article and pictures — the tree, the barn — the pastel colors and the reminder of Matisse’s cut paper collages. In 1993 I broke my right wrist and had the surprising tho’ difficult pleasure of writing and doing other acts with my left; so I appreciated the suggestions about how to go about changing from right to left hand drawing, say for example starting with large pieces of paper and large crayons, etc. Many possible mindful experiences for my left hand. Your art is also lovely to see. Thanks.
these final words are all typed with my left fingers and now they take me to other activities beginning with finishing cooking in the kitchen.
What a thoughtful post. Wishing Joanne all the best. Remember, the art is in our minds, not just in our hands.
Interesting post.
I have overcome many physical challenges in my life, but one of the most interesting ones was getting ready for a large solo show and having the bones of my right hand (dominant at the time) broken due to an accident. Retraining to use the left hand was challenging but very rewarding. That happened 30+ years ago, and to this day, I use both hands, not favoring one over the other.
We can accomplish momentary impossible situations, IF we let ourselves.
Micros
For a number of years, I had basically no use of my left hand and arm and very limited use of my right (I was right handed). It was a time for re-examining my life and what I wished to do with it. I threw myself into art college but was gentle enough on myself, to take part-time status, so that I could spread out my classes over evenings and the weekend and attend summers as well. While I did graduate in the same time period as my fellow students, I did not put that pressure on myself, it was more of what I could manage and playing it by ear as I went along.
I was only able to draw relatively short lines that were vertical, or nearly so. My hand and arm needed to be fully supported, so even feathering lines was a challenge. I worked form life and would have to look at the model or still-life, memorize as best I could and then angle the paper to be able to draw my short vertical lines. I also had to learn to compensate for distortion because of working flat. My work is very detailed and exact, so I can tell you, that you can and will get there!
It was a four year program and for the first three years, I only took the mandatory painting courses and left painting, as much as possible, till fourth year. I would get covered in paint (as both arms needed support)! After graduating, I took two more painting courses, to bring my skills level to where I wanted them to be. (I don’t want to sound discouraging here, I produced a few good works in first year and a lot in second year, it did not take four years to get there – my second year work was pretty comparable to other students I also lived in enormous pain and it was more a matter of not aggravating and losing the use of my right hand too, so, I was somewhat conservative in my approach.)
In art college, one instructor would make students switch hands occasionally (I was the only one exempt) and encouraged students to do so regularly. What was intriguing to me, is that the works weren’t that much worse! That came as a surprise to everyone. Yes, there was a difference, but not as much as one would suspect. As mentioned, fine motor skills take some time to develop.
I am not sure that most people would ever be that disciplined, but I would encourage artists to use their non-dominant hand as much as possible in the creative process and in other endeavours. Things happen more often than many realise. And, for those facing this challenge, know that you will adapt and that you will be able to do what you did with your other hand.
Paula,as artists we are very determined to create and while I only know of a small number of artists who have been faced with this, all have made the transition, no matter how difficult. Having been nearly there and knowing others that have been, all I can do is offer encouragement and say that it will come, with time. Have patience with oneself and celebrate the little victories. It sounds trite, but it is oh so true. (I can angle my lines a bit more but still can’t make lines that approach horizontal without turning the paper or canvas, I no longer even think about it, it is just how I work.)
And, please don’t think just Matisse and paper cut-outs, as soon as one develops the fine motor skills, they can do anything that they could with their dominant hand. There are a number of artists who work with their toes. One woman has mastered unimaginable control! But, with hands, it is “just” (I know that sounds daunting!) a matter of getting comfortable with it and refining the motor skills. You will get there!
Carolen, many many thanks for your wonderful comment. If this comment isn’t giving hope, which one will?
I hope one day you’ll send me a link to your portfolio, so that viewers can have a look at your work.
However, your words of encouragement are enough already.
For me your comment comes as a blessing. Because of our move and doing a lot of extra work, my dominant hand got in trouble (probably strained it or wrongly overused it). Till a few days ago, this post for me was theory, now I am much closer to all the advice people have given. I definitely will start using my right hand from time to time.
Carolen, I’m happy to ‘meet’ you on-line and on LinkedIn. With gratefulness I send you kindest greetings from the Netherlands.
Paula
…there are several drawing exercises that are really cool for this. one of my favorite is to tape a huge piece of paper to the wall, a pencil, charcoal, or pastel in each hand and draw with each hand. I start with my arms spread apart the same as the width of paper and doodle towards the center. The exercise not only lets your creativity flow from both sides of the brain but it also helps center your focus and concentration. I also use it as an art therapy tool to help Veterans with some of the mental health issues they face. ( I do this part time) When their brains are a bit on the scattered side it helps them focus and see things a little more clearly. I’ve also seen the creation of some amazing illustration work being produced as a result.
Dear Lee, that is wonderful and practical advice. I did this post because I received a question from Joanne. I didn’t know at that time that I would develop symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome caused by straining my wrist while non-sto packing, carrying and unpacking. So, all good advice that has been given by others is met with gratefulness.
Many thanks, Lee and kindest greetings to you from me.