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.

I like to collect sea shells and beach stones.   I am  finding it is difficult to use the marks for shading and to create the real shape of the objects.  So I need to practice “making the marks”.  And I can see that I also need to work on on defining the darkest darks and lightest lights.

chiaroscuro 

I am beginning to enjoy drawing, I’m beginning to see things differently when I look at them. I was captivated by this bluebird at the nesting box so I took a photograph and then drew this while looking at that.  I have a long way to go before I can remember something I saw and draw it later. This is fun. It wasn’t at first, it was new and intimidating. I want to work on how things fit together size wise and making things look three dimensional.

I am definitely more comfortable using these techniques with simply shaped fruit rather than more complicated shapes.  I think I need to work on using the different techniques together.

Getting more comfortable with this medium. I do have a question: how do you protect your pencil drawings from smearing?

This drawing I did of a fawn shows three dimensional effects - including the reflected light as the jaw turns under the head and the cast shadow of the head on the neck. I was careful to draw in the direction of the form. The original drawing is a little more distinct and the darks are darker. The scanner lightened and blurred the drawing a little. I'm sorry  don't have Photoshop now to correct it.