Diahn has re-awakened Blind Contour Fridays over at her place, and I couldn't resist. For the uninitiated, blind contour drawing is an exercise, and the results are rather, um, not pretty. These drawings are done by looking at the object being drawn, NEVER PEEKING at the paper, and, if at all possible, not lifting the pen from the page. They are done as a way of training the eye and hand to work together. Mine are numbered, and I could really tell that #5 felt better than #1!
I did mine in my junk sketch book. Hmmm. I guess I should explain about my junk sketch book, huh?! I was at McKay's (used books) one day a couple of months ago, and as I was leaving I glanced into the reject bin, where they put out books that people have left behind when they didn't meet the criteria for buy back. Free for the taking, these books are thrown out every evening, I guess ... essentially they are destined for the trash. One of my other errands that day was to run pick up some book board for a sketchbook I was binding -- and you surely see where I'm going here... Of course! There in the bin was a trove of perfectly good book board, in pairs that were already cut in handy matching sizes ... I grabbed two books, threw them into the front seat of the car, and finished up my day. I forgot to take the books in, and a few days later needed to make a quick note, so I just picked up one of the books and scribbled in it. Not bad paper. That's when I got the idea to make one of the books my "junk sketchbook" -- the sketchbook that is in no way "precious, precious "and was just for practice and drawing exercises. Recycling, don't you know...
And here's a little something for any of you who need to see a drawing that makes sense. Why did I choose this to paint? I don't know. I live nowhere near a lighthouse. I don't collect lighthouse stuff. In fact, I've never seen this lighthouse at all (other than in a photograph that somebody had) and have no idea where it is. I have no meaningful lighthouse history. I guess lighthouses ARE kind of cool, and it would be neat to drive around and look at them. I live in a light colored house that has lights in it, but that's not the same thing. Really, I just like things silhouetted against the sky, and I really like to occasionally use my red paint. That's it, people ... nothing more than that.
Okay, when you look at them, they ARE cool.
And this was fun.
AND I GOT TO USE MY RED PAINT.
5 comments:
Father Greg and the Homeboys. Perfect.
I think these are great - I love that you numbered them - you really can see a progression, can't you? Your note about matching the speed of your eye to the speed of your hand is dead on. Exactly.
The lighthouse is beautiful. That blue sky is exactly what a watercolor ought to look like. And the red just sings against it!
These are great Linda. More proof that I need to practice, practice, practice.
Linda, your observation about matching hand speed ot eye speed is exactly right! My eye is used to going much more quickly and the old hand is lagging. I found myself trying to keep my eye lingering while my hand did it's best to catch up. I wonder what this will bring to my painting... Could be interesting!
Hi Linda, These are wonderful and what a clever idea to use a book that would otherwise be discarded! Something to think about. Love the light house and the red!
Hooray for red paint!
Beautiful painting!
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