Drawing Upside-Down

I signed up to take a beginner's watercolor class in St. Petersburg in January.  As luck would have it, they cancelled the class due to lack of interest.  I had already purchased all the supplies and started fooling around with it.  I guess I finally realized that if I was going to paint, I first needed to learn to draw.  

I've never, ever thought of myself as any kind of an artist.  The only thing I can do is follow a pattern.  I am, however, a very structured kind of person so I got some books on how to draw.  I did a lot of reading and the one thing that really stuck out to me was an exercise where you take a picture, turn it upside down and then draw it.  That way you aren't using your preconceived notions about what shape or what shade something should be.  Was I ever surprised (and thrilled) when I found out I can draw upside-down.  Here are some of my drawings, some finished and some not finished.

The first drawing I attempted was a sketch of Stella.  It was only intended to give me a framework for a watercolor someday.

I've done a few other sketches, mostly because I was excited that I could finally "draw", even if it was upside-down.  

Cabin in the woods

Expression on dog

Stella's loose tooth

These are the only drawings I have ever done.  I'd like to find the time to practice more and be able to draw without turning the pictures upside-down!

I still hope I can find a class in watercolors someday.  I find the study of watercolor fascinating.  I especially like the watercolors I've seen that use limited, unrealistic colors to create structure, depth and interest in a bold way.