This document provides instructions for a meditation technique called "seeing-drawing" which uses focused observation and drawing to detach from distractions. The process involves gazing silently at an object for 1-2 minutes without drawing, then closing your eyes to visualize its contours before drawing the object from memory without looking at the paper. The goal is to relax and construct a vivid memory of the object's surfaces through slow, focused seeing and drawing to establish an "island of silence" and recover from an overloaded mind.

1. Seeing - Drawing
Art making as an act of meditation

3. A non-creative environment is one that constantly
bombards us, overloads our switchboard with noise,
with agitation and visual stimuli. Once we detach
ourselves from all these distractions, and find a way of
centering, the same environment becomes creative
again.
SEEING / DRAWING is a way of recovering from the
overloaded switchboard.
It establishes and island of silence,
an oasis of undivided attention.

4. PROCESS

5. Step 1
Let your eye fall upon some object.

6. Step 2
Gaze at this object for one to two
minutes without drawing.

7. Step 3
Close your eyes and imagine a line
traversing the nooks and crannies of the
object. A single line that is like the path
on an ant walking the surface.

8. Step 4
Open your eyes and begin to draw
without ever looking at the paper.
Relaxing and constructing a vivid memory
of the objects surfaces is the goal of this
type of drawing.

9. Step 5
Look only at the object. Imagine that the
tip of the graphite on paper, and the
contact of your eye with the contours of
the object are one.

10. Step 6
Go slowly. Make sure your hand doesn’t
race ahead of your hand.
If your line runs off the page, simply
drop the graphite back onto the paper
without looking at it.

11. Seeing Drawing “Don’ts”
Don’t look at the paper.
Don’t worry what the drawing looks like.
Don’t space-out allowing your mind to
wander to outside thoughts.

12. Seeing Drawing “Do’s”
Do relax, both in mind & body.
Do concentrate on the object as if it’s the
only thing in the world.
Do slow down both the eye & the hand.