I'm starting to feel more comfortable.  I've been noticing the lights and darks in nature more.  I'm still working on making marks to represent those lights and darks.

I am definitely feeling more comfortable putting marks on the page, and the squint test is VERY helpful. I tend to rely on hatching and scribbling, so I'd like to try expanding my experiments with cross-hatching, stippling, and blending. I have also been relying on photos rather than going out in the field, so now I want to try sketching in situ, perhaps in the early morning and evening when the light is from a striking angle to practice chiaroscuro as well. 

Acorn Squash with natural light from the window. Imperfections are hard to draw! 

  It was easy to see the reflected light and highlights on smooth surfaces like an apple or pepper, but the orange was more difficult even with the squint test.

The squinting technique definitely helped me to distinguish where the shadows fell on the artichokes and to not be as distracted by different colors. For example, the artichokes had purple, brown, and yellow on them in addition to shades of green, so squinting helped me ignore the colors and just look for light and dark. I used a couple of different shading techniques and that really seemed to help add texture as well as depth to my drawing. I want to keep practicing different shading techniques to create more variety of middle tones and also to get faster with shading overall.

My observing skills are improving with you directions. so far I have just used the graphite pencils, except for the clematis that I had sitting on my desk. I used watercolor pencils. Will you please give me a critique and suggestions? thanks

While I see the light and dark, I have difficulty putting marks on the page to reflect what I see. What do I want to work on? Everything! Practice, practice, practice.

I can see that the photographing accidently put more chiaroscuro on the page. I love this technique. This strawberry would be better in color.  :-)

The sketching part was easy but the blending and shading was a little difficult. 

I have trouble with the overall shape.  I find drawing hard work.  

To work on ... value scales ... to "draw" out the crescendo!

I'm beginning to feel more comfortable drawing or just making my marks. I need more work and practice but enjoy learning the new skills.

Starting to feel a little more comfortable, although having trouble with lines. I get caught up in the lines and shadow and forget to focus on shape. I would like to learn to use lines to convey light, shadow and dimension. This will take practice.  

Definitely enjoyed the exercise.  It is interesting the interplay of dark and light.  My situation was complicated by multiple sources of light.  I am getting more comfortable with marks on the page. 

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Vive ChiaroScuro! Follow the spiral path of Spirit. Surrounded by scuro, I follow the spark - the chiaro of change. As in my pencil drawing, the balance of light and dark is not always easy to see at first - there is no ink pen boundary line - no point of Tao where light defines the darkness - truly shades of gray. I have been deep soul diving in the darkest tones of pain and grief and despair: a Cast Shadow of CoVid. Yet adjacent to it is the Reflected Light of Compassion and the knowledge that we are in this together. Now the Core Shadow of my fears is resocialization - my true emotions have been masked - a kind of protection soon to come off. My hope is that Spring may carry me through the Shadow of my day, so the Light of my granddaughter's smile will herald the Highlight of new beginnings. I follow the Spiral path to see beyond my 3D drawing and peer at possibilities hidden ..................................... on the other side.

• Yes, it was easy to see where  how to apply drawing techniques.
• Yes, I'm comfortable in putting marks on the page no when sketching.
• It's a little bit difficult to identify the dark and reflection light on some objects easily. 

I’m struggling with light and dark, especially at small sizes, getting the full range of value. Wonder if I should work larger? Use a harder pencil? — I’m using hb on these. Start lighter? Maybe my 70 year old eyes are part of the problem? Can’t see detail like I used to be able to.