Day One at the Atelier

First, I want to thank all the wonderful people who rallied around me yesterday on the Sketchbook Skool Facebook page. I have been so anxious about this trip and taking the class that I wasn't sleeping well and was considering hightailing it home. I posted there yesterday morning (very early, because, you know, no sleep) and I received over a hundred comments full of encouragement, advice, and suggestions throughout the day. Wow! We all complain about the ills of social media, but I might have gone home yesterday without the outpouring of compassion and kindness I received from so many strangers who all want me to stay and learn what I can. 

I persevered yesterday and went out into the big city. I took the subway and the bus with no problems. I went downtown to the Bean and sat in the peaceful gardens at the Institute of Art. 

Last night I had wonderful El Salvadoran food at a local Pupuseria.
If you have never had a pupusa, it's kind of like a masa pancake filled with beans, cheese, pork, etc., and served with red and green salsa. It also came with this really delicious pickled slaw. I had 2 pupusas, slaw, and passion fruit juice for just over 6 bucks! Why would I ever need to cook here?

This morning I arrived at the atelier and started class. Whew! What a lot of work. First off, Magda, our teacher, is lovely, kind, and gentle. She made me feel much more at ease. The other students are mostly in their 40s/50s, like me, with one younger girl. One woman is commuting from Milwaukee, while another guy lives a few blocks away. Two other students (a husband/wife) will come next week, as they had some sort of medical issue. Everyone was nice. I do feel like I am the least experienced in the class, but I am trying not to let that bother me. 

Today we worked on a Barge drawing. I'm working on a foot. I can see all sorts of problems with it, but I keep telling myself that's why I am taking this class--to learn to see the problems and figure out how to fix them. Hopefully, this drawing will get a little better over the course of the week. 

It's a rainy day here in Chicago, so I'm staying indoors to read over the class material in preparation for the next few days. I'll post more as the class progresses. Again, thanks to all who have been so kind to me. I'm trying to stick this one out.

Pics need WiFi to upload, so can't do so from this little apartment. I'll post drawing pics to Facebook, and try to add pics from a cafe with WiFi.