Hooioppers in een weiland c. 1909s

Here's a landscape spread across two pages in a sketchbook by Alexander Shilling. Look at the delicate pencil lines, how they capture the subtle gradations of light and shadow. I can imagine Shilling standing in that field, squinting against the sun, quickly sketching the scene before him. The marks are tentative, searching, as if he’s trying to grasp the essence of the landscape, to distill it into a few simple lines. See how the trees are rendered with just a few quick strokes, but they still manage to convey a sense of volume and texture? I wonder what he was thinking as he made this drawing? Was he trying to capture a fleeting moment of beauty, or was he simply practicing his technique? Maybe both. But there’s something so intimate and immediate about a sketchbook drawing like this; it’s as if we’re getting a glimpse into the artist’s creative process. Artists are constantly in dialogue with one another across time, riffing on old ideas, and sparking new ones.