Thinking Back

The older I get the more I discover "previously unused" sections of my brain. I'm glad I get to discover them before somebody else does. Then I can clear away the old cobwebs and see if there's something nice under there or just more dormant or dead brain cells that are better left untouched. This kind of "housework" sure beats sitting around in an old recliner drinking a glass of milk and biting the ears off discounted chocolate Easter bunnies, wishing they were a 16-oz. can of beer and a couple of chicken quesadillas instead.  

In this case, it's really not an unused section. I've used this section before. First in high school, and then I had to let it hide until the 1980s when I did some drawings and paintings with tangible media like chalk pastels, crayon pastels, charcoal, charcoal pens, pen & ink, canvas, canvas board, watercolor paper, cardboard, poster board and all kinds of paint brushes, bristle and foam rubber, using watercolors and acrylic paints.

Then this section of my brain went unused again until 1994 when I did a charcoal-and-brush self-portrait. I stowed that artwork away for a rainy day. Then I forgot all about that brain section until February 7, 2013 when I started painting with a regular computer mouse. There are still some cobwebs on that section of my brain but I try to clean house there on a regular basis now. There's no telling what I might find there. Which makes me kind of glad that this previously unused sections of my brain was just hiding and didn't go missing altogether.