One of the artistic expressions available in the management of value is emotional tone. The instructor in the course that I follow exhorts us to do geometric studies using only three values from our scale, starting on the light end and progressing to the dark.

The dark end, of course, demands charcoal. I admit to being intimidated by the mess associated with the medium. Experiments with printer paper revealed that blending with stumps grinds it down, making it a challenge to lighten. Once the stumps are loaded with charcoal, they tend to smear darkness when used elsewhere, created a mass.

So, I avoided the medium.

After the graphite sketch of the girl with the coffee cup, I bought a fresh set of tortillons and stumps and segregated them into plastic bags for dedicated use with different media. Then I found a night-time portrait and began throwing down charcoal.

The result is shown here. The process was fascinating. With high-quality paper and clean tools, I found myself refining details by pushing the charcoal around before lifting it away with various types of erasers. The process produced happy accidents like the radiation around the hairline and the light/dark juxtaposition of the jacket pockets.

The source image was a glamor shot outside a nightclub or casino. The model sported wire-rim glasses. Dropping into a darker tone and abandoning the glasses, the image expresses a kind of grim determination that is sympathetic to my personal journey of service to humanity’s redemption.