To me, the hallmarks of truly enlightened people are being curious and being teachable. We need to wake up every morning and approach our craft as though we are still beginners. There’s always room to be a bit better at color theory, finding dark to light values, or learning the perfect aperture and ND filter combination for a better portrait at the “golden hour”. For this reason Every year I seek out at least one professional around the world to mentor me in all my creative endeavors. These photos were from one of my annual trips in 2006 when I hired the master draftsman Zhang Jianqiao of Mainland China to teach me private lessons focusing on drawing facial features. Although private lessons are extremely expensive around 150 USD per hr. Whenever I get the chance to learn one-on-one, I am always satisfied with the results because teachers are never reluctant to share their secret techniques that could take you a lifetime to discover on your own. These golden nuggets can be life-changing and speed up your progression in more ways than you can imagine. This year, I will be learning advanced color techniques from David Dibble in Utah. Dibble is incredible artist, he worked for Blue Sky for many years, creating color schemes for our children's favorite animated movies. In some of my recent works, it appears that my paintings are either overly saturated, like my recent Japanese series, or too light and dark, like my New York Garbageman series. Without a doubt, I'm really looking forward to learning more about colors from a true master. “Know art, Know life” You can follow David's work on Instagram @dibbleart #dibbleart #lifelonglearner #artlessons #beteachable #hunger4knowledge #lifelonglearner #portraitdrawing #portraitsketch #art@robertfuerer_artist Instagram accounts: @robertfuerer_artist @robertfuerer_photography @puggyandfriends_pet_portraits Youtube: Robertfuerer Facebook: robfuerer (at Beijing, China) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHHUW0HuAN/?utm_medium=tumblr