Will the real Hazel reveal herself…
Loose sketches and blind drawing…
Sketch book resistance…
This year, in order to urge myself toward a regular sketch book practice, I started a 20 minute self portrait sketch per day. Easy - that way I didn’t have to think hard about what to draw. During really busy times, I’d forget until late at night when we dim our lights right down at 8pm and I’d find myself squinting to pick up lights and darks in my subject (me). But… it was surprisingly good to pare down to the bare essentials of tone. At other times I’d pick up seldom used tools or use a tool in a different way than usual. The resulting looseness and FUN was very pleasing but the most amusing was when drawing “blind”!
What? I hear you ask - read on dear readers and all will be revealed.
Blind contour drawing is an exercise in which an artist draws the contours of a subject without looking at the paper. The technique was introduced by Kimon Nicolaïdes in The Natural Way to Draw (1941), but most people know it from the widely popular Betty Edwards‘ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (1979). Both are indispensable resource guides for learning how to draw.
The Seattle Artist League have a great article on it here.
I really like these blind contour sketches above. Most were drawn simply looking at myself in a mirror or at a photo but then I tried just feeling the contours of my face as per Kimon Nicolaïdes practice and it was quite telling. All sorts of stuff arose for me such as how long has my nose been this small? why are my lips so thin? when did my skin become loose like this etc etc? Then, then… compassion began to percolate from inside… for the little girl “has she really grown up? Where did my life go?” On the flip side came - what fun this girl is, what joy lies within, what potential there is when I let go…
Isn’t it interesting how our art often discloses secrets and beliefs we’d rather not admit?
Many more self portrait drawings followed, often working conventionally but THESE exposed different understandings. Vulnerability for example, and perhaps wistfulness? Whatever was brought forth, I found this practice incredibly useful and freeing.
Do I REALLY think I’m still young? HELL YES! For me, I see a much younger than 66-year-old woman here and why not? What the heck is time anyway other than a made up concept that we often waste away anyway.
Jaime Trosper writes :
There are all sorts of quotes about time. One of my favorite quotes is by Abhijit Naskar, the author of "Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost." He said, “Time is basically an illusion created by the mind to aid in our sense of temporal presence in the vast ocean of space. Without the neurons to create a virtual perception of the past and the future based on all our experiences, there is no actual existence of the past and the future. All that there is, is the present.”
Talking about time wasting, worrying about how poorly this post may be written is definitely an example of it and I’m grateful for the candid encouragement offered here on Substack to just “Get on with it”.
Cheerfully yours,
Hazel,
The usually more colourful artist from Hazel Burgess Art
By the way, Blind Contour Drawing is SO much FUN, I’d love to see your examples so why dont you send some for me to feature next time? Remember too, you dont have to limit it to the contour - you can draw anything”blind”, like my feet or a bunch of flowers.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this post, good or bad - I can take it, my shoulders are big enough!!
I absolutely love this post!! Thank you!
My first visit to The Loop, Hazel. I can't add anything very profound but you made me chuckle out loud and on a miserable afternoon I welcomed that. I may even have a go at Blind drawing.
Thanks Hazel