well it was not what i expected...we drew more with a kneaded eraser than with a charcoal or a writing instrument...
The first thing we did was TOTALLY cover a large 18x24" sheet of strathmore drawing paper and then drew a chair set up that was in front of a large window with a water oak tree outside. At first i was not thrilled with all that black charcoal dust everywhere but decided to go with it...spent three hours there erasing with a kneaded eraser...its almost black now....and another hour or two after i got home adding back in some more charcoal and then erasing some more...i like it...i didnt expect to...
The teacher Dianne Sweet...a drawing and painting professor at Augusta State University did a great job...she said that we could actually get it back to white if we worked on it...i tried i couldnt and now my once new kneaded eraser that i had at home is a sick kinda pink...its interesting though how much charcoal the kneaded erasers do lift...So next week when we go to class...we have three saturday three hour classes going to ask her what i was doing wrong...
I rather like the way it turned out...especially when you consider that it was totally black when i started out...
oh one last tip...she had us make a paper view finder to use to compose our picture. Tear out a rectangle the shape of your paper in a small piece of paper...it should be 1-1.5 inches x no more than 2" ...easy and cheap!
Next week no charcoal!
