I figured it would be a good idea to update you on the feet writing and drawing portion of my challenge on the off chance you were wondering what kind of progress was being made after almost a full month. I know, riveting stuff!
I started trying out writing and drawing with my feet as of June 26th mostly on a lark (then the lark seemed to get all uppity about being drawn on so I went with paper). Ideally, I’d like to do it every day (however, the laziness monster tends to get in the way some days so it ends up just being several times a week) but I’m actually quite pleased with the results in so short a time. Here’s what I’m talking about:
First try – Left foot June 27
The pic above was when I started and was with the left foot. Sort of looks like an average kindergarten writing project. It was really hard to find a grip and angle that worked. It also felt weird and I could almost sense the Eeyore vibe coming off my foot saying “Is this embarrassment really necessary? I’m not supposed to do this…”.
First try – Right foot June 27
By comparison, holding the pencil in my right foot was a lot easier and felt a lot more natural. I could get a bit more consistent grip and tension to the page. I even added a smiley face/head (well, really smiley face it aint. It does sort of look like a happy Frankenstein’s monster… just needs bolts on the neck…) since I had actually done a lot better on this side then I thought.
Left Foot July 10
After a few tries this started coming along much better, although you can still see some waves in the straight lines and circular curves are pretty hard. I’ve added some hearts (all the circular/curvy bat shapes) and window panes to try and practice the straight lines and curves.
Right foot July 10
The funny/creepy thing about this is it actually is starting to look like what I write with my hands. I guess it makes sense, since perhaps it’s the same pulses from my brain being sent to my foot. It almost makes one wonder if the graphology stuff I used to love so much when I was a child might be on to something here… Again, since the right foot is a bit more natural, I tried to be a bit more fancy with a dragon head between the window panes and hearts.
Left foot July 24
So, as of today it looks like I have finally found the proper grip and using it has made the left foot actually seem like it’s catching up to the natural skill level of the right. Oh, and the pictures below the alphabet are UFO (I wasn’t actually sure how to draw this so we could also call it a fried egg), Mouse (who has tail issues), Baseball (/lemon?) and Flower.
Right foot July 24
Drawing with my left foot might actually be a bit better today. Not sure what happened to my right foot UFO (maybe we can call it a handbag/suitcase…or an egg wearing a skirt?).Occasionally, either foot does kind of move in a bit of a spasm instead of a smooth drawing/writing movement, and well…then you get a UFO that looks like that…and a sinister looking mouse…I have learned that slow and steady does a lot better work than just trying to rush it, and that being tired also plays into how well the end result turns out (so any I’ll-just-quickly-do-this-before-bed ones tend to look a bit like the pics at the start). In the end I’m actually still pretty happy and surprised at the progress in such a short time. Who would have thought?
In the begging (or on the 27th of June anyway) I’d have to say that my foot flexibility was pretty good. I can grip things and pick up larger things with my toes on both feet (although frustratingly enough a pencil – not so much, so far. It’s just hard to find a good angle.), and can fairly easily spread my toes, and lift the big toes and baby toes (mostly) independently. The three in the middle kind of work as a team (or maybe a paddle…a gang?), so throughout the month I’ve been stretching out and wiggling my toes whenever I think about it.
I’m also working towards breaking up the middle toe gang, but so far it’s just not muscle movements that my feet and brain seem to be able to communicate/understand at the moment. I have made some minor headway in breaking up the “team toes” by putting my toes against the ground and lifting my big toe up. When doing this, I can wiggle the next toe up and down a bit, so I think this might be the secret to figuring out how these muscles could possibly work independently. I’ve also been doing these foot exercises one or twice a week.
Have any of you tried this? How is your foot and toe flexibility? I really couldn’t do the “flex up” at 1:52 or the “bridge” exercise at 3:15 until I had practised this several times, but I think I’m slowly getting it. It’s pretty amazing how quickly your brain catches up when trying to do new things.
How about you? Tried anything new lately?
And where am I for the challenge? Still on track!
- Blog post 5/52 – check
- Writing in the screenplay – check – word count up another 638 this week 😦 but at least it’s something 🙂
- Drawing – check
- Feet writing & drawing – check.
Until next time…
~Liv
Lives In Stone 