One liner Still Life by Satu Vartiainen

I'm finding this all to be a little unsettling as the one line, no looking, quick technique is working so well. I know that you've dashed this off and I love everything about it. How can that be when you haven't been looking at the paper? Is it instinct or just that we've painted these things before and know roughly from memory where to place the lines?

It is fresh and it is an exciting image. So far I haven't had a minute to do this. Though in the past I have done life drawings in this way.. Will dig some out.

I think the more of these we do the better our hand/eye co-ordination gets! Love this one Satu and the addition of colour does make a difference. Come on Sylvia surely you can find a few minutes somewhere in your day!?

Free and light and wonderful how you managed to get the zigzag of the pattern so accurate. I am trying to work out where you started and ended. Near the banana? For me the painted black stalks of the fruit pulls it together as did the painted eyes of the portraits, Fun.

This is wonderful - such beautiful interlocking shapes and pale delicate washes work really well. I think the answer to why this drawing method works so well is that when we normally draw, instead of observing more and concentrating on the subject, we tend to keep looking down our hand. When we do this we have to retain the image that we just been looking at in our head and our brain probably has to work too hard to reproduce it making the drawing stiffer and less spontaneous. When we do the contour drawing we spend all the time looking at our subject and I think this leads to a deeper insight to the shapes we trying to draw. Not looking at the paper during the drawing process adds to the spontaneity as our brains can't keep correcting our hand in an effort to achieve total accuracy. Anyway that's my thoughts on the subject - not sure if I'm right, but it is an interesting concept to think about. Whatever the reason is it has produced this wonderful painting which is spontaneity at it's best.

Spontaneous, compositionally superb, loose and fresh. Just brilliant, Satu!

Thank you all very much for your comments! I do appreciate them!! This drawing probably worked well because I have done two paintings out of the same composition and for once did a drawing beforehand. That fruit basket was on a windowsill in an apartment in Lisbon last December and I took several photos of it and did two paintings from them later. I was thinking.. If I was to do this same from memory without looking at the photo.....? Sian, I started it from the windowsill, up to the dish and down to the melon. After that all the apples and pears, to the basket zigzag , done. I lifted the pen for the window, sorry.

Great one liner Satu!!

I think you are all cheating LOL ( only joking) you can't possibly be doing these drawings with your eyes closed they are too good.

Thank you Debs and Val! Eyes are not closed Val, they are focused on the subject and you try to transfer what you see on the paper without looking.

Another brilliant one liner Satu! Great composition too.

It's all been said!

Thank you Carole and Gudrun!