Charcoal Drawing

For our second project we had to "carve out the light" from a still life, using charcoal. I created a set up where a small pumpkin was in the shadows behind a larger pumpkin, and a bone was around the two. My goals and intentions in this artwork were to show how just one light can cast different shadows on an object. I accomplished them by using different types of charcoal, chalk, and erasers. What surprised me most was how easy it was to fix something if you messed up. My drawing is about how shadows and value can change how you view a composition. The most difficult challenge was getting the pumpkin to actually take the shape of a pumpkin, and getting the shadows dark enough. I met that challenge throughout the whole course of the drawing. I experienced artistic thinking when I thought about the composition as just lines and shadows- not actual objects. I feel my drawing really works in the middle of the bigger pumpkin, because of the light and outlines. Some things I've learned that I can use in the future are how to look at you're composition in a different way, and how to use different materials. In my class, Annie used really dark shadows in her drawing that caused a lot of shadows and added a lot of depth. If I had a do-over, I would draw a composition that was more close up with the light in a different place. I feel the best thing about my work is the middle of the picture, because it has the most detail and catches your eye.