Although my main goal in this sketch was to show focused listening, a secondary goal was to use blues and reds to indicate skin tone and especially shadow on the skin tones.This work with shadow is tied back to the two campfire sketches and the need for strong darks to show the nighttime setting. Of course I have long heard the recommendation that the artist should use color directly on the paper instead of mixing it up but it is one thing to hear advice and another to follow it. It takes steady nerves to actually place blue on a subject’s face when you are pleased with a sketch. Since we were outside in a grassy field with bright light, some of my sister’s skin tone was completely washed out, which I captured, and other parts of her skin were strongly in shadow, which I now think I could have conveyed even better had I used more blue. The tilt of my sister’s head and her relaxed expression communicate listening and her arm with a semi clenched fist suggest that she would like to add something to the conversation but is holding back until the time is right.