Briefkaart aan Elsie Maud Cownie Possibly 1906

This is 'Briefkaart aan Elsie Maud Cownie' by Philip Zilcken. It's a postcard, so it’s made of paper and ink, and I wonder what kind of pen he used—a fountain pen perhaps, slowly scratching the surface. I like to imagine him, sitting at his desk writing to Elsie, pausing every now and then to think about what to write. You know, I think writing is a kind of drawing, the letters are shapes and lines and the way he forms them tells you something about his mood, he seems to have a flourish to his signature. See how the ink pools in certain places and fades in others? That's because the nib of the pen runs dry and then refills. It is very different from painting, but the process is the same, you are trying to capture something in the real world and put it into an artistic language. To me, it’s a reminder that all artists are in an ongoing conversation across time. We all draw inspiration from each other, whether we know it or not.