Jeg vil dog ligge lidt endnu! sagde Anden... 1928

Fritz Syberg made this pen and ink drawing, "Jeg vil dog ligge lidt endnu! sagde Anden..."--or "I still want to lie a little longer! said the Duck..."--on paper. Look at the sheer energy of the lines, all those scribbles building up a landscape. It's like Syberg is mapping not just what he sees, but how he feels, the quick, darting movements of his hand echoing the duck's reluctance to get moving. I love the way the hatching creates shadows, giving depth to the trees and rocks. The scratchiness of the pen captures the roughness of nature, the tangle of branches and the unevenness of the ground. And that duck, smack in the middle, it's like the whole scene is swirling around its little moment of defiance. Syberg reminds me a bit of van Gogh, someone else who used line and mark-making to convey intense emotion. It's all about seeing, feeling, and translating that onto paper with a raw, honest energy.