Rural landscape. Stebliv (?) 1956

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this little landscape drawing with ink, probably on paper, and I imagine he was outside when he made it. Look at how the marks mimic the sensation of actually looking at a real place. I like to think about what an artist is thinking when they make a work, and here I imagine Havrylenko was trying to capture something fleeting: maybe the light, or the feeling of a breeze. It's as though he wants to record something before it disappears. See how thin the lines are? They’re almost tentative, like he’s feeling his way through the scene. Then look how he uses a cluster of tangled marks to describe the density of the trees on the left. It’s so evocative! He is using a simple gesture to suggest complex forms in nature. It reminds me of other landscape painters who used drawing as a way to quickly respond to a scene. Every artist learns from those who came before! For me, this little drawing is a generous invitation into a landscape, and into the artist’s way of seeing.