Self Portraits and Chiaroscura

Imagine a school classroom with 10 women trying to draw themselves in a mirror by candlelight - my drawing class yesterday. It started out with the light on but not looking at the paper while we drew a continuous line . I'll spare you the full picture, just a fragment will suffice. What struck me ( apart from how like my mother I looked) was how lively the drawings were.
Then (with due consideration to the Gods of Health and Safety) with candle stuck in some self hardening clay, we drew with chalk on black paper (above) and then charcoal on buff (much easier, apart from anything else could see a bit better). A very vivid exploration of 'chiaroscura' '

The shadows cast by my glasses frames were pretty scary ( as were the students artwork of ghouls behind me reflected in the mirror!) . But once again my tutor has found an interesting exercise from (for me anyway) art materials and subject matter I'm not very keen on.
The next 2 weeks are dedicated to our own project work - I missed these sessions last term as I was either interviewing or unwell. Deciding what I want to work on is actually very difficult - something where the tutors input could help is probably the most useful.