Molen aan een waterkant c. 1909s

Alexander Shilling made this sketch of a windmill by a riverbank using pencil on paper. Look how he captures the scene with such quick, confident strokes. It’s like he's thinking on paper, letting the marks flow from his eye to his hand, almost without pause. On the right-hand page, see how the windmill's structure is rendered with a series of parallel lines. They give a sense of form and depth, but also a feeling of movement, as if the sails are turning in the breeze. The texture of the paper adds another layer to the piece. You can almost feel the grain beneath the pencil marks, creating a subtle contrast between the smooth graphite and the rough surface. It’s like the sketch is breathing, alive with its own energy. Shilling's loose, gestural style reminds me a bit of Van Gogh's drawings, both artists capturing the essence of a scene with an economy of line. Art is just a conversation across time.