Weiland met hooioppers en een boerderij c. 1909s

Alexander Shilling created this pencil drawing in a sketchbook, capturing a scene of haystacks and a farm. Look at the lightness of the touch! The delicacy of the mark-making suggests that the artist was trying to quickly grasp the essence of a place in time. I can imagine him, rapidly sketching as the sun moved across the landscape. Shilling coaxes out the subtle gradations of light and shadow. The softness of the pencil lines and the choice of a simple, humble material like graphite, connects him to other artists who loved working from the land, like Camille Corot, or even Agnes Martin. There is an attention to the quiet rhythms of nature. Every artist enters into a conversation with their predecessors; each, in turn, responds to the world and inspires creativity. The act of drawing, in this instance, is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings.