First attempt at chiaroscuro: red pepper in late afternoon sun. Difficult to make it look like it was sitting on the desk vs. floating. Any suggestions? Second attempt was red apple with 2 different light sources. What is wrong with the late afternoon shadow? Is it at the wrong angle? The sun came from the upper right. It was great to use the squint test for light values and to look for highlights in the shadows, which I noticed on the apple as well as on the desk surface. I need to work more on using different textures in my drawings.
It seemed fairly easy but it was harder than I expected. Getting the shape of the bird right and getting the pose right was the most difficult for me. I left a few leaves out and simplified it a bit.
I like the whole idea of creating a story about a hike or a trip that will include details about the adventure and will show the things that i thought were remarkable and meaningful to me in context of the entire trip. I can't wait to start using the watercolors.