Sweet Pea Summer Morning

Pure contour

It's been a long time since I sat down with the drawing pad, but the other morning a vase of sweet blossom beckoned, and I had gotten up early enough that there was no rush to the morning. Sweet peas are very complicated flowers! But that's good for getting lost in the meditation.

Outdoor Urban Scene: Trees in Downtown Traverse City

One thing I love about pure contour drawing (or "blind," as I think of it), looking only at the subject and not at paper and pen (or pencil), is the freedom of it. There is the freedom of simply looking intently at the subject -- in this case, two small trees between street and sidewalk -- added to the freedom of not worrying at all about results. Because the pen is not lifted from the paper, of course the drawing will not "look [all that much] like" the subject. And yet there is a feeling of its spirit.

I did this pure contour drawing with one of my Staedler pigment liners (0.7), little German pens I love, in the small sketchbook I carry in my purse for opportunities like this.

Convoluted Daffodils

The daffodils that bloom every year under the mammoth old silver maple between our backyard and the henhouse are not the simple shapes I usually buy to plant myself, but their fussy, frilly edges do present an interesting drawing challenge. As usual, I began with a blind contour drawing. After drawing the entire vase that way, I did a couple more blind contour drawings of individual blooms, just because the pen felt so good on the paper, and it was intriguing to look only at the flower as I drew and only afterward at the drawing.

Last but not least, I concentrated on a single bloom for a modified contour drawing, i.e., one made by looking at both subject and paper while working. I was pleased with my modest result, and it was a good way to begin the day. 

Meditation: Back to Fresh Fruit (Bananas)

Part II of Elizabeth Abeel's class called "Seeing as an Artist Sees" (or, as we sometimes call it more simply, "Drawing") focuses on charcoal drawing, which we'll begin this coming Wednesday. For practice this past week, however, it was still work at home with pencil, and Betsy suggested we revisit contour drawing. So I went back to fruit as a subject for the blind contour drawing below. If you'll recall, a blind contour drawing means you're only looking at the subject -- in this case, the bananas -- and not at your paper and pencil. 

We had company over the weekend, so rather than attempt a finished drawing of the entire bunch of bananas I drew only one and called it good for one morning. It does feel good to be drawing again. What will the messy charcoal experience feel like? Stay tuned to find out!