This spring, I was reintroduced to a practice I had
forgotten about – contour drawing. (Another idea for an all season C post.)
Drawing only the exterior shapes, and focusing intently on the shape of the
lines that create the form, and using only Sharpie pen, was intimidating at
first, and then fun. After the class that I took, and which resulted in a handful of new work and ideas for me, I introduced this technique to my students, young and old. They were all successful with this approach.
This summer, with my garden a riot of
floral shapes to inspire me, I drew and drew, striving to recreate the curves
and patterns. Somehow and at some point, this morphed from trying to be realistic, to seeing
opportunities for abstraction. Today’s piece started out as clover blossoms …
I like the delicacy I've achieved. It feels like summer. Its pen, marker and watercolor on watercolor paper. 
This is absolutely stunning. I've never heard of this technique before, but you have perfected it. The Sharpies I own are thick and probably wouldn't work on the fine lines. You created a real gem and I see both the realism and abstract in this drawing.
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