If you’re going to paint a portrait, you need to know how to paint clothes and drapes.

Hence the homework assignment to paint two pieces of fabric so that a viewer would know that they differ in weight and texture.  I didn’t have to look far for subjects:  a blue denim apron friends had brought back from Sennelier in Paris and a red satin shopping bag made by a daughter-in-law.  I draped them over a corner of my easel and set to work.  Voila.