I believe this exercise was very good for me.  

It was important for me to understand value,
how it adds planes, structure, weight, and light.  

The illustration on page 105 of our textbook was
very helpful in getting me 

to see that there were more than
two or three shades in a sphere.   

 Illustration 4.22 was a great help as was 4.21.

 This is my gray scale and my white looks gray
 but I promise it is really white.

All of my photos of my still life objects
and my drawings of each one.

My sketch of several different set-ups.

 My final still life drawing.  

I found that the blending stump and the kneaded eraser
made things look a whole lot better. 

 Charcoal is still very messy.

I used a medium compressed stick
in a variety of ways and directions.