[Chris Saper]

Hi Lon,

I'm intrigued by the theory, although I think it works just the opposite for right handed pastel painters! As I started out painting in pastel, I learned to start top-down and left to right, so that I minimized the risk of smearing. When I began painting in oil, these habits never changed. And in fact I find it important, at every level of finish, to be able to look back and forth and compare. As I think about it, I probably, at least now in oil, tend to start with whichever eye I feel has stronger "landmarks" - that will help me place it more accurately, or paint it more clearly. Then the first eye becomes the landmark for the second eye.

I might add though that I never draw the eyes to any level of finish without first defining the relationships among all the feature, and then establishing the volume of the forms.

I have done a lot of research into the the left-right read, so this is a topic of great interest (sure to put many non-painters to sleep, no doubt).

Chris