Backyard Fountain, Talega

From time to time I like to practice contour drawing -- i.e. drawing a subject without looking at the paper (or, looking only occasionally!) You fix on a point and then imagine your pencil or pen tracing the edge, rounding the curves and tracing the contour. The result can be wonderfully kinky but I think it often gets to the heart of the subject, and the way you see and feel about it, better than a literal rendition. So here is a contour drawing I did of the decorative fountain in the center of my backyard in San Clemente.  I did the fountain and rose bushes in contour, then drew in the background fence and added watercolor.