The Making of Art

So on Monday my friend Carla came over to sketch me.  She needed a model and I am pretty good at just sitting there so it seemed like a fine idea.

The making of art, especially visual art, has always fascinated me.  This is not a medium I work well in at all (mine is words and the raw materials of fermented foods) so it always interesting to me how it was done.  To me it seems the equivalent of magic:  the artist looks, works on the paper, and produces a work of art. 

Having never sat for a drawing I was interested in what would be requested of me.  It turns out nothing much at all:  sit there and look out.  Try not to move to much.  Wait - can you turn the other way towards the light?  Good.  Just sit there.

And we were off.

The fascinating part to me was that she talked throughout the process.  This is very different than writing for me:  the more quiet things are, the better I write.  Not so with Carla.  She simply put her pad down, got out her charcoal, and got to work. 

Broad strokes, broad strokes, short strokes, rub rub rub.  Look, start sketching something else out.  Rub the charcoal more - when she brushes her forehead a random stroke of charcoal stays there as well, matching her hair.  Her right index finger becomes dark with dust as she continues to draw.  Short stroke, short stroke, broad stroke.  She looks again - Are your eyes really that crooked?  Yes, I assure her, they really are - bee sting and bokuto scar.  She nods and keeps drawing, a running stream of banter going between the two of us as the strokes seem to go as fast as the words. Look up, look down, draw.  It is interesting that there are not a great deal of facial expressions as she draws to indicate if she is happy with the work as it is or not.  Is this conscious, to prevent her prejudging the work or is she simply in the moment?  I wonder as she continues to move back and forth across the paper.

Near the end she starts to draw larger strokes to fill in the background.  Finally she looks at it, looks at me, and shows it.  I love it of course - it has the bold facial features of a Vulcan or Romulan, something which I have always fancied myself looking like.

All of this with the just a blank piece of paper and charcoal.

How do artists do this?  How do they see what we see but then transfer it to a medium that makes it look like it is?  How can they draw the essence of a thing outside of themselves and then put it onto paper with the essence of the thing in it?

I cannot understand it.  All I can do is simply stand back and be amazed.