Art Class

The assignment for the art class this month was to do a still-life drawing of a basket of fruits. Still-life drawings tests a student's shape forming and three-dimensional techniques. To make it life like, there is a need for the student to learn shading techniques for realistic lighting.

"Observing is very important in still life. Observe every nook and cranny of the fruits. se, you would first draw a shape resembling the fruit, just like how an apple and an orange are both circles." Ms Stella spoke as she drew her still-life piece on her sketchbook under the projector.

The students looked up from time to time. Their hands were moving along, drawing their own piece on their respective sketchbooks. Since he could not escape drawing, Shawn decided to just follow along with her instructions. Drawing the shape, eventually adding in curves to the drawing, the fruit started to come to life even though there was no colour or shading at the moment.

While drawing, Shawn interpreted the size and shape of the fruits accurately. Focusing on his work, oddly enough, the boy entered a calm state just like when he was about to perform. Drawing the fruits just like how Ms Stella had drawn hers. It was like a disciple following the ways of their master. When the class was over, and everyone was leaving the classroom, Ms Stella asked for Shawn to stay. She wanted to see his progress and whether he did do his work.

Shawn flipped open his empty sketchbook and showed Ms Stella his progress, to which the lady exclaimed in surprise, "Oh wow, Shawn!"

"Hmm?"

"Have you taken art classes before?" Ms Stella asked curiously.

"No. Never." Shawn shook his head. Ever since he stopped learning Taekwondo and swimming, his parents never bothered to let him try anything else. For drawing, this was probably the first time he tried to draw properly.

"This is wonderful. Truly wonderful. Your size perception is really accurate, Shawn."

"I just followed what you did on the screen." Shawn said out his thoughts in his head.

"Yeah, even if you did, you managed to apply it to your own fruit layout." Ms Stella wasn't downplaying anything at the moment. When looking at her past students works, at this age, without practice, such a skill was very rarely seen. The object in front of a person would always stay the same, while the canvas would always vary in size. This means that an artist would require to hone the skill of perceiving the size of an object. "Look at that. You can really draw, Shawn. Keep this up, will you?"

"I'll try."

"Don't try, just do." Ms Stella gave a wink before leaving back to her office.

For the rest of the school day, everything went by just as slow and tiring as Shawn had imagined. Today, he had a scene with Emilie and so, they got to go back together. Thinking back to December, Emilie wanted ice cream once again and so, being the crazy girl that she was, she got the both of them ice cream.

"Do you wanna try racing to see who can finish this stick of ice cream the quickest?" Emilie asked with a competitive expression.

'I don't wanna." Shawn declined straight away.

"Oh, come on, come on. Don't be boring." Leaving the convenience store with Emilie's nagging, Shawn breathed out a very evident cloud of vapour. "If you race with me, I'll let you sleep one whole morning without disturbing you."

Sighing, he replied. "I'll do this once more with you and no more!"

"Yay! Alright, 3, 2, 1, go!" With the countdown came the race to see who could finish the ice cream the fastest. Shawn tried his best to swallow but the ice cream was too bloody solid to even melt. Munching it down like a solid food, he managed to actually finish it before Emilie.

"Ah brain freeze!" Wincing her eyes, Emilie lowered her head in pain.

"Karma is a bitch." Shawn laughed seeing how much the person who suggested the competition was suffering.

"Seeing that your head is not hurting, you probably don't have a brain up there." Emilie tried her best to make a comeback. There were tears coming out from her eyes.

The pain looked pretty bad and so, pitying his bus mate, Shawn took out his thermos water bottle and handed it to her, "Drink some warm water. It helps alleviate the pain."

Obediently, drank the water and soon after, the pain subsided. Emilie breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Maybe next time you should try suggesting a warm food challenge." Shawn told the girl with a tranquil smile on his face.

While walking down the familiar small road together, Emilie realised something. "Hey Shawn, why is it that you do not want to try in anything?"

"What do you mean I do not try in anything? I try to be as lazy as I can." Somehow, Shawn spoke without sounding ridiculous.

"I am being serious. You're actually one of the most talented people I have ever known."

"Well, if you talk to the Asians that hang out in my clique, you will know what is talent." When Shawn said that, there was a hint of dejection.

"Nah, I know many of them and none of them are as smart and talented as you. You just got to believe." Emilie placed a hand on her heart as she spoke earnestly to him.

"Honestly, yeah. None of them can beat me in laziness."

"God, you're actually ridiculous."

The pair stopped their conversation topic about talents. Shawn had purposefully avoided the topic. In his heart, there was indeed a reason for his laziness. He was just not willing to bring it to light at this very moment. For now, all the boy wanted in life was to enjoy everyday to its fullest. If it means being lazy, Shawn would do so to his best ability.