Skitser af traner 1900 - 1905

This is Niels Larsen Stevns' "Skitser af traner," sketches of cranes, done with pencil and watercolor on paper. Look at the grey washes and the orange beaks of these birds! The artist is working out how to capture their essence with such immediacy. I can imagine Stevns, sketchbook in hand, observing these cranes, trying to capture their movements, the subtle shifts in their posture. He's using the pencil to find the forms, and then the watercolor to suggest the light and shadow playing across their bodies. You see it, the wing of the top crane, how it overlaps the body of the one below! There's a lovely dance between observation and invention here. It reminds me of how artists are always looking, always learning, and always trying to find new ways to express what they see and feel. And isn’t that what drawing is all about, really? A conversation between the eye, the hand, and the heart.