Weiland en bomen c. 1944 - 1990

This small etching, "Weiland en bomen," by Kees Stoop, pulls you in close to a stand of trees on a meadow. I imagine Stoop hunched over the plate, using line after line to build up the forms, to create a shimmering and vibrating sense of light. I can almost feel the scratch of the etching needle on the metal, the careful and repetitive action of mark-making. It’s a slow, thoughtful process, a kind of meditation. Look at the way he renders the trees – not as solid objects, but as masses of tiny, flickering marks. It's like he’s trying to capture not just what they look like, but how they feel. This piece reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, borrowing ideas and techniques, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Painting, like any art form, is an ongoing experiment, a way of seeing and thinking and feeling our way through the world. It's about embracing ambiguity and uncertainty.