Today's challenge was 'smooth.' I chose to do not only a quick drawing of a smooth object (an egg) but I chose to use pastels, one of my favorite medium to use when going for really smooth textures. Not that one can't create other textures with pastels, but when I want to blend different shades together to make subtle gradations I think pastels are easiest to use.
The funny thing is, I've done quite a few egg drawings over the years. In fact, back in high school when I was taking private art lessons, my tutor gave me many homework assignments that required drawing an egg. Sometimes I even had to draw an egg with a smooth, oval-shaped rock. This was to teach me to reeeeally look carefully at what I was drawing rather than rely on my natural instinct to just draw a simple oval and call it a day. I had to look at where the highlights hit, where the shadows hit and where the reflected light hit. It's a lot harder than it sounds - especially when drawing a white egg on a white background! And then to throw in a similarly shaped rock and have to make them look distinctly different - definitely a challenge! But, in the end it was a crucial lesson to learn and helped me with the foundations an artist needs in order to hone their skills and build off of them from there.