Impression of an Amsterdam sunset - 17-11-14

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Street Life

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Impression of an Amsterdam Sunset – 17-11-14’ represents my kind of impressionism. Inspired by a photo my dear colleague Julia Filament took I set out to interpret this typical Amsterdam street life. There is this song under the same name, written by Joe Sample. He pictured a frantic street life himself and so did I, depicting these people crawling around like ants. However, the focus is entirely on the sunset, which formed the initial inspiration to do this piece.

Sunset in a City

Somehow I was intrigued by the very idea a sunset still can be depicted in a cityscape. Sunsets normally only can be enjoyed by spotting the contrast to the horizon under which the sun disappears. In a city the setting sun is also visible through windows reflecting it. Everybody living in a city knows this. Personally I live opposite to a big flat. Sunlight in the evening often blinds my eyes for a short instance. Therefor my apartment can be as light as someone’s house in the countryside.

Beautiful Contrasts

As to this drawing I liked the idea of this boxy composition with the briliant lighting smack in the middle. These verticals are compensated by slanted areas of interest leading to a vanishing point outside the viewer’s field of view. Some glittering tram rails topped it all off. The massive looking real estate also contrasts the thin power lines beautifully. This one demonstrates there is no need to incorporate lots of nifty details. An artist often can only suggest a lot of them, tricking the viewer’s eyes. What do you think? This was the prestudy for a successive pastel by the way.

Graphite pencil drawing (Pentel 0.5 mm, 3B) on Canson Bristol paper (29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm – A4 format)
Artist: Corné Akkers