Veere 1917

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this print called "Veere," a small etching, sometime in the early twentieth century. Look at how the composition leads you in, with that twisting path and the stark tree on the right, inviting you into a kind of dream. It’s all about the layering of marks here. The artist uses these delicate lines to build up a sense of depth and texture. You can almost feel the roughness of the tree bark or the way the light catches on the water. It reminds me of the kind of drawing I do, constantly reworking, layering, and letting the process itself guide me. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing the evidence of the artist’s hand so clearly, like a conversation between the artist and the plate. This piece reminds me a little of some of the early 20th Century graphic work of Emil Nolde. It has a similar feeling of being both very precise and kind of rough around the edges at the same time. It’s a good reminder that art is always an ongoing conversation.