Ornamentontwerpen c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof created this pencil sketch, called Ornamentontwerpen, sometime in his lifetime. You can see the loose leaf paper, and the ruled lines showing through the drawing. What I notice immediately is how the circles and swirling forms create a kind of rhythm, like a dance across the page. I imagine Dijsselhof bent over the page, his mind lost in thought. The pencil moving almost of its own accord. You see how the hand can be a conduit for the imagination, channeling ideas and turning them into something real. There's a lightness to the touch, a freedom of experimentation here. The artist is unafraid to let his ideas flow, trying out different patterns and motifs. This work, for me, speaks to the beauty of the preliminary sketch. Dijsselhof shows us that art is a process, a journey, full of possibility. Just like life itself, right?