Eekhoorn after 1921

This is Henri Verstijnen's "Eekhoorn," made with etching on paper, and I imagine it's a scene he observed—perhaps in his own garden. Look at the lines, how they build up the squirrel's fur, each stroke considered. I can imagine Verstijnen hunched over his plate, scratching away with his needle, trying to capture the creature's alertness. What was he thinking as he worked? Did he feel a kinship with the squirrel, a fellow observer of the world? The texture of the branch, the way the light filters through the leaves—it's all there, rendered with such care and precision. The Old Masters knew a thing or two about etching. But Verstijnen brings his own sensibility to the medium. It makes me want to grab my own tools and start scratching away. We artists, we're all just squirrels, really, gathering nuts and ideas, storing them away for a later date. And the conversation continues, across time, across mediums.