A woman trains a horse, another packs to go climbing

Dear Sarah - Day 133 of our daily drawing exchange

May 13, 2025
Dear Nikki,

I've attached three related images of the woman training the horse: one is the original photograph, one is a blind contour drawing and one is the charcoal drawing based on yesterday's pencil sketch. What I realized--when I found a better version of the photograph today-- is that the horse is running away from her--hence the subject line of this email. Not only is the distance between them wrong, but he's not in side profile, as I had drawn. They are both in silhouette, but that's misleading.

As always, I like the blind contour drawing a lot. How is it that BC drawings are so good at capturing the essence of the object? But when you are looking at the page it is often lost? Is it a brain-eye-hand thing? Does staring at the object, rather than at the paper, connect things (neuroscientifically) that are not connected when your eyes are on the paper? Whatever it is, it's kind of magical. I'm trying not to be overly critical of my equine effort: I do think that drawing a running horse from behind/sideways is pretty difficult!

I'm really looking forward to my Canmore drawing/writing/swimming/eating/sleeping/laughing vacation. Also can't wait to ride in your new car!

XO S

Hi Sarah -

I also love the blind contour drawings - the results are often surprising and delightful and, yes, capture the essence of the thing even when they are technically ‘wrong.’ If you know what I mean. Quite likely someone has studied the phenomenon…

That said, I really like your charcoal piece - such a great medium for this particular subject (and thank you for sharing the photo!!)

Around here, it’s panic stations trying to get ready to go away.

I thought I’d do a quick visual list of things that are coming along, but then I realized the list was way too long for the time available, so I resorted to cheating and shifted to a list of things that are hidden in the pack. Given the weather forecast (not great) I may wind up spending more time at the BNB drawing objects from the pack rather than climbing… We shall see. Weather is, as we all know, nothing if not unpredictable.

And now, off to tick my Duolingo Italian box before turning in for the night.

Ciao!
Nikki