Contour line drawing (and Gaston Bachelard)

A great quote by Gaston Bachelard from his book The Poetics of Space:
Immensity is within ourselves. It is attached to a sort of expansion of being that life curbs and caution arrests, but which starts when we are alone. As soon as we become motionless, we are elsewhere; we are dreaming in a world that is immense. Indeed, immensity is the movement of motionless man.

Do not underestimate the significance of just sitting still--something this assignment forces you to do for a time.

Some things to think about contour line drawing, while drawing:

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!!!

Obsessive Contour Line Drawing of an Intensely Complicated Subject:

For Thursday, you are to make a contour line drawing of a subject you would characterize as "intensely complicated." Examples: a patch of grass, tree bark, a close of view of leaves on trees, a wall of bookshelves, wood grain....Your drawing must come from life--and not from a photograph.

Remember, a contour line drawing is a drawing comprised of a LINE--NO value, no shading, no stippling, no shadowing, etc.

Materials: Ball point pen or felt-tipped marker, 18"x24" white drawing paper

Follow these guidelines when drawing:
1. Use a singular, non-hairy, confident, SLOW line.
2. PAINFULLY SLOW (so slow you can't believe how slow you are drawing): I am asking you to draw slowly because this is a drawing about looking, and you can only really look if you slow yourself down and force yourself to look at everything, however minute or seemingly unimportant.
3. Connected to #2 is that I want you to have NO hierarchy of imagery; for example, if you were to draw a wall, or a floor, the smudges on the wall or floor are just as important as say, a painting hanging on the wall, or a chair sitting on the floor. If you were drawing a face, the freckles, moles or blemishes are just as important as the features. Draw EVERYTHING, even things you don't typically characterize as valuable, or worthwhile.
4. Fill the entire page--top to bottom, corner to corner, edge to edge.
5. Record as much detail as possible. Be obsessive with your RECORDING of information. It might be helpful to imagine that you are recording something incredibly important for someone who will never actually see your subject matter; instead they must rely on how well you record what you see.
6. No erasing.
7. Use a ball-point pen or a felt-tipped marker. If you make a "mistake," leave it and move on.
8. This is not a drawing about proportion. This is a drawing about looking and recording--about pushing yourself to SEE more than you do initially. ASSUME you are missing information, and push yourself to always record more.
9. Don't think too much--LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!!