Initially in class I found charcoal very difficult to use. I kept breaking the piece and didn’t feel I had much control. I found it easier as I practised using different sized pieces of varying softness. I found creating different tones by drawing with a pencil much easier and I enjoyed learning how to create tones and shading.

I went to see the William Kentridge exhibition after he was referenced in a class. I had never heard of him before but I was amazed and inspired by his work in charcoal. I loved how his work had such fine detail and vast range of tones and how he created huge complex scenes or captured a close up facial expression just with charcoal. I noted he nearly always uses a red pencil to create a mark in his images with was very effective.

I took a photo of a tree trunk in Hyde Park and zoomed into a section of it and used it to experiment with creating tone with charcoal. I felt pleased with this result.