Dorpsgezicht met een kerktoren en molen Possibly 1908

Here is Alexander Shilling's pencil drawing of a village with a church tower and windmill. Look at those pencil marks, how they build a scene out of almost nothing. You can just see the artist rapidly sketching, making these zig-zaggy lines and hatching to capture the essence of a place. I wonder what he was thinking as he was drawing. Perhaps he was thinking of the old masters like Rembrandt, who also captured the Dutch landscape with such sensitivity. What’s so nice about drawing is how direct it is – no fussing about with color or anything, just pure seeing and translating. It’s about mark-making that’s not trying to fool you, but just be itself. Like a diary entry. It's all about the exchange of energy and ideas. Shilling is speaking to us through his art, and we can respond in turn through our own creativity.