Zuid-Amerikaanse ooievaar 1876 - 1951

This pencil sketch of a South American stork was made by Theo Nieuwenhuis. Look at that beak! It’s like the stork is all beak, and just a little bit of body attached as an afterthought. I can imagine Nieuwenhuis in front of this bird, trying to capture its essence with just a few lines. You know how it is when you’re sketching – there’s this dance between looking and marking, adjusting and refining, until suddenly, the thing you're drawing starts to appear on the page. The stork has a stillness and presence. It's like the artist is trying to work out something fundamental about seeing, drawing, and being in the world. It feels like the drawing comes out of some intuitive exchange of ideas and creativity.