Aalscholver op een nest 1934 - 1936

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a cormorant on a nest with pen and ink on paper. It's all about the process, you know? The marks, they build up, like the bird building its nest. Gestel uses these tiny, repetitive strokes to create the texture of the bird's feathers and the tangled mess of the nest. The ink is dense, almost velvety in places, especially on the bird's body, but then it thins out, becoming more sparse around the edges of the nest. It's like he's mapping the space, figuring it out as he goes. Look at the way he renders the nest, these frantic, scribbly lines that suggest the chaos and energy of nature. It reminds me of some of Marsden Hartley's landscapes, that same kind of raw, expressive mark-making. Art isn't about perfection; it's about exploration.