Contour line drawing is deceptively simple.
To make a contour line drawing, one really only needs a piece of paper and virtually ANY writing or drawing implement.
Sit, look, draw what you see with a line.
But to really make a contour line drawing, one needs some other things too, and this is where the process, if really tackled with eyes wide open, becomes a challenge.
One needs time. (Are you willing to sit for a good long while?--in silence perhaps, or not, but in either case, are you willing to focus only on what is in front of you. Phone turned off or at least away. No texting. Perhaps the question should really be, are you ABLE to sit for a time, an hour?, and just draw. A whole hour. Drawing. Staying put.)
One has to look. (Are you willing to really look at your subject--at every facet, detail, texture, element, part. Can you?)
One has to head into the drawing believing it is nearly impossible to record it all, but determined to try nonetheless. (Or maybe that knowledge comes more slowly, when the huge chasm between our eye and our hand become more apparent--and poignant.)
Are you willing to let mistakes remain. No erasing--invariably there will be mistakes in proportion. Can you allow those "mistakes" to exist, to meld into the greater overall project of exercising SEEING? Can you privilege the process more than the product? Will you try?
Can you settle your internal critic for the duration of this drawing? Perhaps begin by hearing that critical voice--can you then move on, ignoring it--hard yes, but it is possible.
Can you trust that growth might happen in doing something simple, something you don't fully understand, or even something that infuriates you?
When you are through, tell me about your experience in as much detail as possible. Thanks!!!
