This is a blind contour, continuous line drawing using first your dominant hand and then your non-dominant hand.
Gather Materials:
- An artist’s journal, unlined notebook, or piece of paper
- A pencil
- An object to dra
- A timer
Today’s Exercise
- Pick an object in the room and stare at it intently for one minute. I chose an aluminum foil cup.
- Close your eyes and imagine the object in your mind’s eye…try to see its colour, its shape, any texture that it has.
- Open your eyes and look at the object for another minute.
- Set your timer for two minutes and then close your eyes and draw it continuously. Don’t lift the pencil or open your eyes until the timer goes off.
- If you “finish” drawing your object in under two minutes just draw it again right on top of itself.
Repeat with your non-dominant hand
- Now turn the paper over and begin again but this time with your pencil in your non-dominant hand
- Again, keep your eyes closed and draw without lifting your pencil or opening your eyes for the full two minutes.


Reflections on the Exercise
- My dominant, right-hand, drawing is smaller and tighter and more controlled
- My left, non-dominant, hand produced a larger and looser drawing
- I did this in a workshop setting. I felt very vulnerable with my eyes closed.
This was interesting! As I was looking at the object I felt like I ‘knew’ I couldn’t draw it and I felt kind of ‘negative’, but once I was done, even though what I drew didn’t look like anything, I actually liked what I drew. 🙂 So, a positive there at the end! 🙂 Thanks for providing these ideas!