Gezicht op Woensdrecht 1909

Alexander Shilling made this ink sketch called ‘Gezicht op Woensdrecht’ sometime around the turn of the century. On one side, light blue ink captures a distant landscape with a touch so light it's almost a whisper. On the other, a more assertive black ink delineates buildings and structural forms, almost like notations in a visual diary. I bet he had his sketchbook with him, perched somewhere, quickly trying to capture the scene before the light changed. You can feel the immediacy in the contrast between the faint, ethereal washes and the sharp, deliberate lines. It reminds me how sketching is such a conversation with seeing, a way to chase down the fleeting impressions of a place. Artists do this all the time, right? We are constantly responding to our environments, trying to pin down a feeling, a moment. Shilling’s Woensdrecht isn't just a place; it's an experience, felt and translated through ink onto paper.