Landschap met een kerktoren 1905

Willem Cornelis Rip made this landscape with a church tower using graphite on paper. The marks are quick, light, and searching, feeling around for the form. You can see the artist trying to capture something fleeting: the light, the mood, the bare bones of a scene. I feel a kinship with Rip. I imagine him outside, squinting, the wind maybe biting at his face as he tries to get the essence of the landscape down before the light changes. He probably didn’t want to belabor it or get too precious about it, just capture the feeling of being there. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with one another, across time and space. Each drawing, each painting is a response to something seen, felt, or imagined. This little sketch is a reminder that art is as much about the process as it is about the finished product and that the artist is a witness.