Today in class we did a series of exercises from still lives. First, we learned about the different shadows and light areas on a basic object. This included light, highlight, cast shadow, and reflected light. After learning this, we began our exercises. Our first challenge was to draw a contour (meaning without picking up the pencil or looking at our drawing) piece in 5 minutes. This exercise was supposed to teach us to coordinate our eyes with our hands and work on being able to draw without looking at our piece. It was nearly impossible to not look down for the full five minutes. Another challenge was going slowly throughout the drawing. Next, we did an exercise where we had to draw all of the geometric shapes but only in 5 minutes. This was to work on our speed of drawing. After finishing, we then made our own small still lives which consisted of four objects. We then did the same exercises with the fewer objects and less time for the second exercise. I learned that not looking at a drawing is very hard but an important skill. I also learned that speed is also important. Overall, these drawings were difficult but taught us a lot.