Choose two objects with reflective surfaces. Use charcoal and putty rubber. Show the reflected light and shade of one object falling on another and leave as little negative space as you can.

This piece is on bright white A1-sized paper. I purposely chose two objects that had different degrees of reflectiveness. Well, my newly-kindled love of charcoal continues! I found this exercise utterly daunting to begin with and felt a bit lost but with a few sweeps with the side of the piece of charcoal, that feeling evaporated.

Modesty be damned- I am so pleased with this piece that I’ve been showing it to everyone! I do have a couple of frustrations- firstly I was wearing my glasses instead of my usual contact lenses and they slightly distort my vision. Consequently the coffee pot has a bit of a lean. But never mind. I love it anyway.

Secondly, I just now realise that I didn’t put any background in at all, not even implied shadows at the bases! The pots are floating in space…. I don’t want to touch it any more but I won’t forget in future.