I used to think that I didn’t know how to draw.

I was utterly convinced that I simply lacked the innate talent, the artistic gene, the elusive ‘eye’ needed to create anything that could be considered meaningful art.

Why was that? Because that’s what I was told, what I absorbed, what I internalized at school.

‘Some are talented, some are not. Some are born with it, some aren’t. Your talents lie elsewhere. Don’t waste your time trying.’

Defeated and resigned. Acceptance bordering on apathy.

Until I stumbled upon ‘Drawing with the Right Side of Your Brain’ by Betty Edwards.

Then, the scales began to fall from my eyes. I learned, with a jolt of surprise and a surge of hope, that my apparent inability to draw was largely learned behaviour. It was a self-imposed limitation, and nothing more than a story I’d told myself. And been told, and learned to unquestioningly accept over the years.

What Betty Edwards does so perfectly, so profoundly, is to systematically dismantle that limiting narrative . And she shows, with clear and compelling exercises, that anyone, truly anyone, can draw. Even you. You just have to be willing to unlearn the layers of limiting beliefs, the ingrained assumptions, the perceived limitations that have been holding you back. And yes, of course, like anything worthwhile, it takes practice, dedication, and a willingness to embrace the process.

Her exercises, her techniques, her approach can leave you speechless. Wondering what else you’ve been believing about yourself that simply isn’t true.

What other limitations, what other seemingly immutable ‘facts’ in your life could be nothing more than stories? Stories you’ve inherited, stories that you accept as the truth? And what would fundamentally change if you truly, deeply knew that you could rewrite those stories, that you could unlearn those limitations, and step into a far greater capacity than you ever imagined?

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