If you've never sat for a portrait - and I'm not talking about in front of a camera lens, let me tell you - the experience will be quite unlike anything you might have expected. Today, in the afternoon, I went to Ray's studio and he drew me. Ray is my mom's "special friend" and he is also the most talented artist I've had the good fortune to meet, ever. He's been pushing for me to sit for him for a while now, and knowing I'd be out in the Petes for a couple days, I agreed to do so today.

He drew me twice, in charcoal - a tricky medium that doesn't give you lots of room to mess up - from two different angles with different light sources. Actually, both times the light came from the window, but I sat in different places in relation to it, and the lighting changed as the afternoon wore on. The trick is to move as little as possible, and to try desperately hard not to react, as in to the radio, or to the artist, or to anything. It's hard. Bloody hard. Several times, I fought the battle to control my face and lost. Ray is patient, however, and for that I am grateful. I also nearly dosed off twice, because it's really difficult to stare at the same bit of wall for an hour with pleasing music playing in the background.

I took breaks, of course, as did Ray, because it is very tiring for the model to sit completely still for a long duration, and for the artist to maintain complete concentration. The first piece was very rough, as Ray called it, very quick and comprised of hard lines and bold shadow. The second is much softer, with more muted contrasts, though with a more direct angle. The first shows me looking sad. I never realised that my relaxed face is so melancholic, perhaps because I'm so animated, usually, but it really is, and my eyes, which have been described as sorrowfully dark and mournful, slant slightly downward on the outer ends, making their expression sort of sad. The second piece allowed me to view Ray working thanks to a mirror hanging behind him, so I look a little more engaged as I watched him work. It was neat. Tomorrow I'm sitting again and he's going to try painting me in pastel.

It was Ray's birthday yesterday, too, so tonight, Mom took him (and me) for dinner at the Twilight Diner, a lovely fusion restaurant in town. Ray was displeased at being the object of a magician's attention, who was basically busking legitimately in the restaurant, and it very nearly ruined our meal. He wasn't so good, either, the magician, though he was pleasant enough. He missed the cues that said, 'go away' and 'don't talk to Ray'. Happily for him, though, he found that the table behind us was full of people perfectly happy to be entertained by his mediocre talent. Anyway, after, we all came back here to Mom's and had cake, of a most scrumptious sort (maple walnut), and gave Ray his presents. We got him a couple of cds, incense, and a fantastic winter jacket/shirt that he absolutely loved.

He's still here, so maybe I should stop being rude and go back down and be social.