Some ideas stick with you over time. One of those ideas for me is the concept of negative space. Artists use it to move out of the verbal, analytic mode and into their visual, perceptual mode of thinking.
I love this concept for two reasons, it
- shows us visually how we can take a very human tendency to think and talk about what we do not want in our lives to move us into seeing and bringing forth what we do want. In addition, it demonstrates the limitations we experience when we get too specific or rigid in describing what we want (also called outlining).
- demonstrates how our perception filters what we see. In a 2-dimensional drawing with perfectly balanced positive and negative space, there is the potential for two images to be seen depending on which color your brain identifies as the foreground or the background.
My high school art teacher introduced the idea to me when I was having difficulty drawing a figure. Instead of asking me to draw the arms or the torso, she told me to draw the spaces around and between those body parts.
With ease, I used the nondescript edges of empty space to draw the perfect shape and form that I had been unable to capture just moments before. All I know is that it was easier to draw this non-descript space than it was to draw a bent arm.
What happened? Why did this work?
Drawing the negative space made it impossible for me to name, label, or judge what I was drawing. I was forced to just see the relationship between lines and space instead of trying to draw an arm. By putting my attention on drawing all that was NOT the arm, I saw and drew the arm.
The empty or negative space gave me the boundary line for the drawing. Just on the other side of it, the arm appeared. It felt like MAGIC but it was there the whole time! AND, it looked a lot better than my attempt at drawing the arm. Sometimes negative space is not empty, it can be solid matter or shape too.
Later, I was introduced to this same concept again as an optical illusion.
The most difficult concept to grasp when we are overly focused on what is lacking in our experience is the idea that OUR GOOD ALREADY IS. Just take a quick look at this drawing. What do you see?
If your point of attention is on the white space, the vase comes into the foreground. When you focus on the black space, the faces move into the foreground. Both are present within the whole. You choose what you see AND experience by your point of attention.
What does this have to do finding your soulmate?
It puts the journey that we’re on towards our love in perspective. Often, I see and hear people get very depressed or negative about their dating and relationship experiences. They use these experiences to describe or to draw a completely dark future for their love life. They feel empty.
If we were to use this so-called empty time in a slightly different way, it would be possible to see that every experience is moving us closer towards bringing forth what we do want to see in their lives. And, an empty time is often the most productive time in drawing forth what we want.
We then can see that negative space need not have a negative connotation. It can be a good experience that better defines what we are moving towards.
It also helps to understand the idea of patience. Patience has nothing to do with a waiting game even though waiting might be part of the experience. Patience is a faith or trust that what we want already exists. It allows new answers to come forth that we did not see when we were focused on a specific path from point A to point B. We just need to slow down a bit, draw on the good that we have right now, and be open to seeing the WHOLE PICTURE.
Blessings and love,
Lisa
