Janel Hawkins, owner of Sandcastle University in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is the guru of the grain.  Grain of sand, that is. A self-taught artist, the 23-year-old has studied under masters and has sculpted the NCAA volleyball logo for national television. Today, she teaches more than 300 construction classes per year along Alabama’s 32 miles of sugar-sand beaches. Students of all ages meet at her location – by the sea turtle statue on Gulf Shores Public Beach, for example — or she travels to their beach house. We hooked up with Hawkins at Gulf Shores Public Beach behind The Hangout restaurant and bar. We know that lessons learned here will be handy at home on Lake Erie’s beaches. When we arrived above the tide line,…