The Magic of Blind Contour Drawing

A sketchbook tour that shows you how I use blind contours for fearless urban sketching

Hello, friends!

I recently finished filling a sketchbook, and I’m so excited to give you a tour and the full scoop on the my summer of plein air painting and urban sketching in this sketchbook tour video.

In this video, I share

• A strategy for using blind contour drawings in location sketches to overcome my painting-in-public jitters, to look closely at the scene before me, and to energize my sketches

• How I use my sketchbook to prepare for larger paintings

I’m sharing all the sketches, even the “ugly” ones, because I want you to see that sketchbooks don’t have to be the perfect masterpieces we so often see in instagram reels. They can be places of play and exploration.

My sketchbook had only one rule: All the sketches had to be location sketches or sketches made from life. And even I broke even that one rule. One of the last sketches was from a photograph that I took. And you know what—that’s ok! Rules are made to be broken.

I hope you enjoy this sketchbook tour! If you try my blind contour technique, let me know, and if you have other stay-loose strategies that work for you, please share in the comments!