I've been away from the blog working hard on my book. So here's a sneak peak into one of the chapters - Blind Contour Drawing.

If you know me, you know I'm crazy about accessing what I like to call our "lizard brain." The part of our brain that's responsible for deep creativity, imagination and generally having fun! It's hard for us as human beings to get that old lizard brain working.  Our executive brain, the one in charge of remembering what a stop sign looks like and making sure we drive on the right side of the road, is always at work.  Hard to turn that bossy executive brain off! But with a little blind contour drawing you can turn off the executive brain and lizard brain comes out to play!

Here's how:

Set up a complex still life, or look at a corner of the kitchen. Be sure there's lots of "stuff" to look at.  I also like to look at the junk drawer in the kitchen.  Then start drawing it, without looking at your page. In other words, draw "blind".  Just imagine that your pencil or pen is tracing the contours of the objects and NEVER look at your page.  If you have a hard time not peeking at your drawing, tape a piece of paper over the page and put your hand under it.  Or push your pencil through a large paper plate. Then you can draw without seeing what you're doing.

Then, turn the page and do it again, and again.  After two or three drawings on the same page you have something like what you see above.  Fill in the spaces with color or leave them blank.

The main thing to remember is that your drawing shouldn't resemble the objects you were looking at. Try to get really out there with this! Go off the page, cross over back on top of your own lines and so on.

One warning - this technique is super addictive! And relaxing. You will be amazed at how much fun this is and what great abstract drawings you come up with.

Who knew your lizard brain was so talented?