Remember Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? I skimmed it and only remember one thing: the most effective way to really learn a new thing is to teach it. Until I began teaching drawing lessons, I had an endless list of things I just couldn’t draw. Once I began teaching, it became imperative to tackle those items! Early on those items included eagle feathers, lion fur, beach sand, and tree bark. As my students looked to me for direction, I had to find a way to draw AND explain the methods. Often we experimented together to find the best way to represent different textures. As I teach drawing, I learn new ways of explaining and demonstrating, and new techniques of drawing. Just to keep from getting too fat-headed, have a look at my early work:

When the reproductions of this sold out, I redrew it and reprinted the new one:

 

In case you are interested, it is for sale here:

https://www.cabinart.net/reproductions_new.shtml

In the interest of fairness and honesty, there is an even newer one, but it was reproduced as cards only and they have all sold out. If enough people ask, I will show it in another blog, but it won’t get reproduced because it sold and I don’t know to whom!!