Today's entry will be dedicated to my sudden boost of confidence, courtesy of my Observational Drawing class. 

I never knew how much of an ability I had to draw until I enrolled in this class.  In fact, it was hard to have confidence in my drawing skills growing up in my household;  my father, sister and brother were all phenominal artists.  I, on the other hand, felt that my special talent was my excellent penmanship.  I have Mrs. Spires to thank for my obsessive compulsiveness, as it was she who gave me the "C" in handwriting in the second grade.  Talk about traumatic.

My open letter to Mrs. Spires

Enough of my childhood agonies.  Ever since I had signed my name on the dotted line and enrolled into art school, I constantly questioned myself.  I'm not a great drawer and the only times I've picked up a paintbrush was to slap a new coat onto some walls.  This probably showed I was more qualified to enter into their interior design course than their graphic design course.  I guess I assumed much of my major would focus on designing using a computer, and I never even stopped to consider it would be the fundamental classes that would give me the most anxiety.

But, I was completely surprised.  On the first day of my observational drawing class, my teacher made it very evident that he did not fuck around.  To quote him,"If you think you're a badass drawer and got skills, I will tear you apart."

Oh.  My.  God.  How did I end up in THIS class? 

Our first homework assignment was to sketch two chairs, one in one-point perspective (head on) and the second in two-point (at an angle).  I picked my dining room chair and Austin's computer chair and got to work.  Every once in a while, Austin would peek in on me and comment on how good he thought my sketches were.  I figured he was being supportive.

However, on critique day, I posted my homework on the board along with the other students.  My teacher browsed all the work, and turned to me and said:

"Jill, you need to sketch more difficult objects.  You're not in the same league as these other guys and your compositions need to be more advanced."

Talk about uncomfortable.  I mean, I certainly appreciated his compliment, but I wish it wasn't at the expense of the other students in the class.  Nevertheless, it was one of the biggest confidence boosters I have ever received.  I've always questioned my skill and here was someone telling me that I was better than I felt I was.  Not only did that help me with other assignments, but I actually liked to draw/sketch now.

So now our finals are due.  A charcoal rendering of a still life, with two light sources.  I took pictures as I went along.

Step 1:  Outlining.
This is actually a white piece of charcoal paper, which I then covered with charcoal.  I am using three different types of erasers, a rag and a burnishing stick to remove the charcoal and create volume.

Step 2:  Beginning to remove charcoal
For the vase, I've begun to pull out some of the black.

Step 3:  Vase/Rag done.
I've completed the first two objects, and am moving on to the sunglasses.

Step 4:  Sunglasses done.
I've removed/added charcoal to create dimension for the sunglasses.  (There's a bit of "visual confusion" with the left arm of the glasses, which I will be fixing after I finish this entry.)

Step 5:  Salt shaker done, water glass added.
I've corrected the vase and rag and have moved onto the salt and pepper shakers.

Step 6:  Pepper shaker partially done.

I hadn't uploaded the other pictures, but I've completed the bowl with eggs and am now able to move on to the chair and background.  I'd show you the picture Austin took of my face, where I unknowingly had charcoal all over my nose, but I look like shit and there's no way I'm putting that out there.

EDIT: Here's the final product.  My teacher made a few critiques, all of which I agreed with.  But, in checking my grade for the class this morning, I found out I got an "A".  I can't express in words how much of an accomplishment that is for me.  I intend to send my teacher an email expressing how grateful I am for his encouraging words and support.

So here are the long-awaited (I flatter myself) pictures from Maui.

This is the view from our balcony at Napili Village.

Our hotel room was more like an extended stay type of joint than a "resort".  While the accomodations were alright, we couldn't argue with the fact that we were 200 feet from the most beautiful beach in Napili/Kapalua. 

The beach where we did our sunbathing and snorkeling.

It's hard to see just how magnificent this beach is since it was cloudy when I took this photo.  I took this the morning Austin and I decided to wake up early and grab breakfast.  We laid out riiiiight... there!

Our car extraordinaire.

I don't know about the PT Cruiser.  It's window switch is on the middle console, which I thought to be somewhat inconvenient.  Unless your arms are three feet long.

We dined at Aloha Plate Lunch restaurant, on the patio.

We read in all the magazines that this is where all the locals go to get their "authentic plate lunches".  Maybe authentic if you've never eaten Hawaiian food before.  That's the last time I go by what "Where Dummy Tourists Should Go and Eat" has to say.  Nevertheless, the scenery was nice and our waitress even nicer.

Meet Corky.

Corky came cruising up to our table while we were eating.  We asked the waitress about him, and found out that he is a ferel cat.  She often takes leftover food and feeds Corky after the restaurant has shut down.  Management has said if they found her feeding him again, she will be fired.  Moral of the story?  Neuter and spay your animals, fuckers.

 
Here is Austin, on the phone begging Lily to drop everything and take care of our cats.

Austin and I spent one of our free days cruising around Lahaina, stopping in shops and milling about.  Our little date was interrupted when Austin called our scheduled cat sitter and found out that he had not yet stopped by our house as planned.  It had been over 24 hours since anyone had checked on Milkface or Ninja Warrior, and he promised to see them in the morning.  He was now 12 hours overdue. 

Just like the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I heard our cats were not being cared for.

Eventually, Lily was super awesome and came down to watch our kittens.  She even had to throw a pill down Ninja Warrior's throat because she had been having the runs.  I got a text message saying,"Call me the Cat Whisperer."

Hour 1 of our road trip and we're becoming quite familiar with the tropical weather. 

 

We left Lahaina and headed back to our hotel room.  We planned that the next day, we would try to do the Road to Hana.  Unfortunately, we had a flight to board so we didn't exactly have all day to do it.  Instead, we decided to just drive round the island, heading towards the airport and taking in what we could.

 

This is where all "Unsolved Mysteries" begin.

 

We went north for a bit, but the roads were less than accomodating.  So we turned around and headed in the right direction.

 

Austin and I took a scenic drive and came across this little wooded area.  I took a photo because this is how I remember Maui as a kid.

 

If I haven't mentioned it before,  a lot of my childhood vacations were to Hawaii, since a ton of my relatives live there.  One of the things I remember was our trip to Maui.  I apparently didn't remember it all that well, because this picture represents what I pictured from that trip.  Going back now, I didn't see much of this.  Unless the island has changed that much in the past two decades.  Or I'm confusing Kauai and Maui, which is quite possible.

 

A beautiful spot to snorkel.

 

The sun decided to shine for about a half-second, so we pulled over to this little cove area and took some shots.

 

This is where the real deal Holyfield snorkeling was going down. 

 

It sucks that there's such a reflection off of the water because the coral below was so breathtaking. 

 

How I remember all of my road trips in Hawaii... green and gray.

 

Hmmm, I guess my memory from long ago did hold out.  Surprise, surprise.

 

We finally arrive to the Grand Wailea Hotel. 

 

I had heard everyone talk about how beautiful this hotel was, but I really couldn't imagine it.  And then we arrived.

 

Too bad this was man-made.

 

Our only waterfall we got to see on the entire trip and it was in the parking lot of the Grand Wailea.  *sigh*  But it surely was pretty.

 

They took it seriously when the architect told them to "raise the roof".

 

Austin and I went straight to the bar.  Aside from the places you see in the photo, the bar was the only covered part of the hotel's lobby.  The rest is as you see it here, open to the sky.  I wondered what happens when it rains, since it seemed that that occurs about every 3.5 seconds.

 

A delicious libation.

 

I honestly couldn't imagine a grander place to spend a vacation.  I'm staring out at the ocean, which surrounds 50% of the hotel.  Phenomenal.

 

My Tai?!?

 

Austin ordered a mai tai and when I took his photo, he looks like he's shocked.  Maybe it's so good he's surprised.

 

3.5 seconds later.

 

And this is what happens when it rains. 

 

At least the booze are safe.

 

Can't say the same about the planters.

 

The restaurant at the Grand Wailea.

 

We took a walk through the pool area and came across the cool restaurant area.  Man, I'd love to have a reception held here.  But I don't think this kind of thing exists when you're three sheets to the wind in Vegas and decide to get married.

 

Aloha.

One last stop before the airport.  On the side of the road.