Place two pale simple-shaped objects together with a single light source to the side. Use tone to give the impression of three dimensionality.

I chose two different-sized and shaped white ceramic bowls, which I love the shape of (there are a lot of bowls in my house), and used natural light as my source. I placed them on a dark varnished wood surface to create a more interesting context. I used willow charcoal and grey and white charcoal pencils, taking away with a putty rubber, on low-grade A2 paper.

I’m in two minds as to whether I like this paper; a hard piece within the charcoal scratched it and I couldn’t cover the damage. It is visible in the area at the base of the right hand bowl. This is a shame because otherwise I think the piece works well. But then I think the picture has a ghostly feel to it, almost a soft focus, which is a result of the paper not having much tooth, and I really like that.

I enjoyed the method of starting with crude blocks of tone and then refining and working those into the spectrum of greys. I wish I had taken some progress photos. I’ll try to remember to do that in future.