We practiced Pure Contour or Blind Contour where the artist studies a subject intensely and does not look at his/her paper. The idea here is that the left brain has nothing to name or critique or measure, so it drops out. The right brain dives in the pure looking and recording of every line, crack, crevice, bump, edge, texture, and so forth. Because the artist does not look at the paper, the drawing ends up being a delightful mess of lines and curves. It sounds counterproductive, but indeed, the eye is being trained to draw what it sees!

Aiden drew his hand in several positions intensely focused on the subject and did not look at his paper. I drew some blind contours as well of my hand, so Aiden could see that every artist has his/her signature line or mark. I encourage him to not take his pencil off the paper, so the line and his concentration would be fluid and unbroken.

I asked him what he experienced during the drawings, and he told me he was concerned with the proportions of the hand drawings. I told him to let that go, so his right brain could take over. It is a process and journey, and Aiden told me he was enjoying it!