Gezicht op de molen Rijn en Lek te Wijk bij Duurstede 1906 - 1907

Willem Witsen made this drawing of a windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede, probably en plein air, on paper, with crayon, charcoal, or maybe even conté. I’m trying to picture him outside, squinting at the scene, trying to capture the hulk of the windmill, and the churned up sky. He’s working fast, and the marks are immediate and searching. They don’t feel labored or fussy at all. See how the heavy, smudgy marks conjure both the solidity of the building, and the churning clouds above. It is as if the building and sky are dissolving into each other. I love the scrappiness of the drawing, the way it embraces a provisional state. A lot of the marks feel like they are searching, finding, then searching again. You see it’s not about resolving the image, but about the act of looking and trying to see. You can feel Witsen's excitement and energy right there on the surface of the paper. It makes me wanna grab a stick of charcoal and get to work myself!