Kalenderblad voor juni 1913 met twee kerkuilen 1912

Theo van Hoytema made this calendar page for June 1913 with a printmaking technique of some kind. I'm wondering, was it a lithograph? Look at how the owls are drawn – they huddle together with such love, don’t they? I think Theo must have watched a lot of birds to be able to capture that tender pose. And then, you've got these other little birds at the bottom, strutting around with their chicks. I imagine the artist sitting there, watching, sketching, maybe mumbling to himself, trying to catch the way the light hits the feathers, or how one bird nudges another. It’s a kind of meditation, isn’t it? Looking that closely at the world. I get the feeling Theo really loved his birds. He made several images of them over his career. Art is an ongoing conversation. We learn from looking closely at what others have done, and then we add our own voice to the mix. It’s a beautiful, messy, and never-ending conversation.