Ornamentstudier 1906

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketch, called Ornamentstudier, at an unknown date using pencil and watercolour. Look at those tentative marks at the top of the page! It’s all about the initial feeling, right? I can imagine him flipping through this sketchbook, its grid faintly visible underneath, trying out ideas. He’s feeling his way into those symmetrical floral arrangements. It’s that thing of trying to get an idea out of your head and onto the page, but it’s like… the idea exists just a little bit outside of your reach. The bottom study is more substantial. The paint is thin and watery, pooling around the edges of the leaves. It's contained by a thick brown border. Painters have been inspiring each other forever, copying and riffing off each other's ideas. It’s all one big conversation, isn’t it? That awkwardness, that searching, it's all part of the dance. There’s something exciting about witnessing that. We can read a lifetime of experience in a single gesture.