I have never learned to draw.

Growing up, I thought being able to draw was something you could do or you couldn’t — and no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t. For decades, I equated drawing well with being an artist.

I’ve learned that I was wrong about both. So many people I trust have told me that anyone can learn to draw. I believe them. I’ve never taken a drawing class. Circumstances have always seemed to get in the way. I’ve also gotten a better sense of the Venn diagram between drawing well and being an artist.

What I do know is that I like making things, even when I have no idea what I’m doing. Making something badly can be surprisingly satisfying.

In my latest art-ish effort, the paper goes over my face first. Then I grab a pastel and use it to “draw” my face by feel — tracing the elements of my face through the paper. I’ve done three iterations of this self-portrait and have started with my glasses on each attempt.

Then I work my way around my face: nose, eyebrows, mouth, jaw.

Sometimes when I’m drawing from one side of my face to the other, I’m shocked at how far it is. I’ve become fascinated by what happens when I try to translate the three-dimensional shape of my face onto a flat piece of paper. I cannot see what I’m drawing as it’s happening — and that’s the whole point.

The first self-portrait was ridiculous. The second was slightly better. I like the third one a lot — maybe because it’s in my favorite shade of green. I’ve shared videos of all three attempts with friends. More than one has asked the same question: Why are you doing this?

My answer is equally simple: “For no reason beyond entertaining myself!”

Frankly, it’s fun.

The stakes are low. I never know what I’m going to get, and each attempt has taught me something.

When I can’t see what I’m drawing, I can’t worry about whether I’m drawing it right. There is only the doing.

I convinced my husband, who actually can draw, to try the first attempt with me. Having been with me when I bought the supplies, he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t hesitate. For the most part, he has stopped resisting when I present him with one of my ideas, supplies in hand.

That said, he shocked me when he began wadding the paper up — more than once. He explained that wadding the paper would make it mold against his cheekbones and nose.

I tried his technique on my second attempt, although wadding up perfectly good paper felt vaguely sacrilegious. The portrait was only marginally better. For my third attempt, I went back to perfectly good flat paper.

Being asked why I’m doing this has made me wonder: Why am I doing this?

I think it has something to do with the surprise. I never know what I’m going to find when I take the paper away.

Most of what fills my week runs on the opposite instinct. There are deadlines — so many deadlines. There is research. There is reporting. There is writing. There is editing. There are stories that need to keep the readers reading. Most of what I make is supposed to work.

Life is full of things that are supposed to turn out. This one isn’t.

I don’t want fun and surprise to live only in the margins of everyday life.

Maybe I like the repetition as much as anything. I put the paper up, I draw what I cannot see. There is no way to cheat it. I can’t see the drawing, so I can’t judge it while I’m making it.

Low stakes and delight are not the same thing, but I think they might be cousins.

Nobody expects a blind portrait to be good. The green one surprised me. The jaw is roughly in the right place. It captures something of the way I look off to the side. It makes me smile.

The third portrait sits on my desk right now, green face turned slightly away from the window.

I’m going to frame it.

If you want to try your own version of a blind self-portrait, please do! Send photos of your effort to jan.risher@theadvocate.com.

With two weeks of fishing data to be compiled, state Wildlife and Fisheries managers decided to be cautious and announced the private recreational red snapper season will close at 11:59 p.m. Monday in state and federal waters.

The move comes after weekly record-setting catches in late June and early July. Through July 19, this season’s catch total to 701,302 pounds of our state’s 882,439-pound annual quota. The declaration also indicated the season could reopen if there is a sufficient number of pounds remaining in that allotment.

The agency also announced the opening day and times for the fall inshore shrimp season with the primary target being white shrimp.

All three shrimp zones will open at 6 a.m. Aug. 17 from the Louisiana-Mississippi line west to South Pass and from the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel west to the Louisiana-Texas line. There will be a 6 p.m. opening for inshore waters from South Pass to the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel.