Class: Contour Drawing  /  Teacher: Jill Tiderman

Location: Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland, Va

People tell me all the time… “I can’t draw.” The truth is that drawing is a skill anyone can learn but it takes practice to get good at it.

I used to draw as a kid when I had more time on my hands, but now i want to get right to the paint! Slowing down to enjoy the drawing process requires patience, but contour drawing is fun and fast. In contour drawing you render the outlines of your subject without picking up your pen or pencil. Ideally you should spend most of your time looking at your subject and very little time looking at your paper. Lines overlap and become loopy and loose. In blind contour drawing you do it without looking at your paper at all, which makes for a Picasso-like rendering… always a surprise when you finish! We did each drawing with a timer set for just a few minutes. The class was fast-paced and super fun!

WHAT I LEARNED: Drawing can be so fun and anybody can learn it with practice.

WHAT I LIKED: I really enjoyed blind contour drawing and loved how the drawings turned out so funky. I also loved meeting new folks, taking turns modeling, throwing perfectionism out the window, Jill’s enthusiastic and energetic teaching style, and learning about Lenore’s bucket list — how she is learning to swim at age 47!