Charcoal

Charcoal

She sits there on the ground
in the hallway with a thin wooden board
on her lap studying the
walls – noting the angles and
observing the shadows.

Eyes opened wide
as they focus on the architecture.
Charcoal - her choice of
media today. Her hands are
smudged with it.

Her fingers move by
instinct as she starts to draw her subject.
Slowly the image is put on paper,
a construction of dark and light
as if by magic.

The other day, as I came out of my office at school, I noticed… actually, I was overwhelmed by all the people sitting on the ground with big boards drawing. It was instantly obvious that their assignment that afternoon was to draw with charcoal. I love seeing them. It’s such an amazing sight to see. In the summer, they are out in the quad. All of them are just sitting there quietly doing their thing. Some of them have headphones on. Others are holding their pencils up and squinting to measure proportions.

I was leaving my office to get some water and I made sure I took the long way around so that I could see as many works in progress as I could. There was one that was especially beautiful. The way that the charcoal was used to draw a series of windows was really breathtaking… at least for the few seconds I was able to look at it. The light reflecting off the windows was so beautifully captured. Sometimes when I see these flocks of fine arts students, I am tempted to just sit down and join them and draw. I’ve always fancied myself as an artist that has been too busy to do any real art. Sometimes I wish that I had taken fun courses in university. Other times, I am tempted to sit down and draw the fine arts students as they draw. Hahaha… that would indeed be funny.