My First Acorn Squash

In all my years, I've never tried butternut or acorn squash until recent.  A few weeks ago I first tried the butternut and really liked it.  Then this past weekend we picked up an acorn squash to try.

Of course I had to sketch it first before cutting into it.

This is my first sketch using an HB pencil only.in the generic sketchbook.  I started out with an irregular circle very lightly drawn and then working clockwise, started top right lightly shaping the edges and sections.  Using the side of the pencil lead, I worked all the shading and then the point for definition.  I used a tortillion to blend and shade the graphite.  Then went back with a putty eraser pressing in some areas to lift some tone out and then shaping into a wedge for the lighter areas (I did leave some areas pure white while sketching). 

With tonight's journal entry, I first sketched the general form and added some dark lines knowing I was going to use a stump to blend it all out.  Then I used the side of the pencil and started putting in darks.  At this point I wasn't sure where I was going with it.

An idea hit me to try so I went digging in my boxes for a pastel pencil set I bought many years ago but hadn't really used.  Because I was going to add some color, I took my putty eraser and lifted back out the darker shading done.  I started adding color.......orange, yellow to brighten in areas, and two of the lighter greens.  Then used the dark green in those areas I had originally shaded dark with graphite.  I would blend with the stump and then lift areas with putty eraser until I was satisfied with the overall look.  Then took the eraser and softened some of the edges.

I'm sure I didn't work the pastels correctly and should probably do some reading on techniques.  But overall, I'm happy with the results.  This is definitely new territory for me and enjoyed the experiment using something different.

NOTE:  As I sit here and study the results, I see something I need to work on.  The results look like this was cut with my sketching only the top half sitting on the surface.  It 'should' look like a whole squash and more rounded rather than flat.  Of course I didn't have to tell on myself but I hope by sharing this it might help someone else not make the same mistake.  ;-))